A 23-year-old man has been taken into custody regarding the 2022 overdose death of a 17-year-old girl, who authorities believe was his girlfriend.
Michael Garcia was apprehended on Monday by the Riverside County police in El Centro, Imperial County, California. He was subsequently returned to Indio, as reported by The Desert Sun.
The incident took place on August 21, 2022, when officers were summoned to an apartment in Desert Hot Springs to respond to an unresponsive girl. Despite rescue efforts, she was pronounced dead, according to a statement from the Sheriff’s office.
Investigators later determined that the cause of death was a fentanyl overdose. Garcia, who was 20 at the time, was identified as a suspect, but law enforcement was unable to find him initially.
Authorities sought assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service, suspecting Garcia may have fled to Mexico. After two years, he was apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border on charges including “unlawfully furnishing a controlled substance to a minor and felony child endangerment.”
The investigation remains active, with more suspects identified. Garcia is scheduled for a court appearance on Thursday morning, and his bond has been set at $75,000, according to inmate records.
Fentanyl, as noted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, is incredibly potent—about 100 times stronger than morphine—and is often found in forms like patches and powders, sometimes disguised as prescription drugs.
According to UCLA Health data, approximately 22 adolescents die from overdoses weekly in the U.S. As the availability of drugs increases, the deadly nature of these substances has also escalated, despite a decline in overall use among high school seniors over the past 20 years.
Preliminary reports from the CDC indicate that California recorded over 12,200 drug overdose deaths between March 2023 and March 2024.