Two people are accused of delivering a fatal cocktail of drugs to a Pasco teen father.
Jaidin S. S. Ramirez, 21, and Alexander J. Bautista, 24, both of Pasco, allegedly told the 18-year-old they were giving him cocaine.
But after Sylvester ‘Lil Ves’ Muldrow IV was found dead in a car in Pasco several hours later, investigators discovered a combination of fentanyl, THC, alcohol and cocaine in his blood.
Now, Ramirez and Bautista are being held in the Franklin County jail on suspicion of controlled substance homicide. Ramirez’s bail is set at $200,000 and Bautista’s at $500,000.
Prosecutors have used the charge more often in recent years to target suspects for selling fatal doses of illegal drugs. This is the second time in this year Franklin County prosecutors have charged someone with the crime.
The Tri-Cities, like many communities nationwide, has struggled for several years with a continuing number of fentanyl overdoses.
The synthetic opioid is 100 times more more potent than morphine and hundreds of times stronger than street-level heroin, federal officials have said.
Franklin County has seen 15 drug-related deaths in 2024, most of which are tied to fentanyl, Coroner Curtis McGary told the Tri-City Herald.
Buying cocaine
Pasco police investigators say Muldrow and a 20-year-old female friend used cocaine on Sept. 19 and wanted more on Sept. 20.
Messages found on Muldrow’s phone show he contacted Ramirez using a social media app, and they agreed to meet at a Pasco supermarket.
Muldrow and his friend drove from Richland to Pasco. Bautista got into the back seat and handed over a bag that allegedly contained cocaine to Muldrow, court documents said.
The teen divided the powder into three lines, one which he used, one given to his friend and the third used by Bautista.
After Bautista left, the 20-year-old woman and Muldrow drove off but she pulled to the side of the road near Columbia Memorial Gardens cemetery, said court documents.
She told police the next thing she remembered was waking up in the hospital, court documents said.
Police found her unconscious in the car about 12:30 p.m. Sept. 20. Muldrow already was dead.
She was rushed to Lourdes Medical Center and given Narcan several times. That’s the drug that helps people recover from opioid overdoses.
Medical staff and the coroner found a combination of cocaine, fentanyl and THC in both the woman’s and Muldrow’s bodies.
Bautista also suffered an overdose after using the drugs. A person found him unconscious on a bathroom floor and called 911.
Kind-hearted and loving
A GoFundMe was set up by Beverly Bradford to support Muldrow’s family after his death. She said he loved listening to music, playing basketball and fishing. The Tri-Cities native worked as a cook at Wendy’s.
“Sylvester touched so many lives,” she said in the GoFundMe post. “He made a very big impact on any person he came across.”
His son, Leon, meant the world to him, and he wanted the boy to have the life he didn’t have, according to the post.
“Sylvester loved to be around his family. He learned at a young age that family is all we have in this world, and he always made sure to make the most of it. You could say he was ‘the life of the party,” Bradford wrote.
The GoFundMe was closed after raising about $2,400.
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