Bristol mom issues warning to other parents after daughter’s fatal overdose

BRISTOL, Va. (WJHL) — Amber Raines talked about the last time she saw her 18-year-old daughter Kinley alive.

“She gave me a hug and I gave her a hug back and we both said, ‘I love you.’ And she went into her bedroom,” Raines told News Channel 11. “I certainly didn’t know at the time that that would have been the last interaction that I would have with my daughter.”

Kinley was a bright, beautiful, senior at Tennessee High School. On the morning of March 5, 2022, Raines went to wake up Kinley to go prom dress shopping and said she immediately knew something was wrong.

“Unfortunately, this is something that I will never be able to wipe from my mind,” Raines recounted through tears. “She had already been deceased for several hours at this point, she was cold. I just knew. I knew once I got into her bedroom that she was gone.”

Kinley’s cause of death was listed as acute fentanyl intoxication. Raines says the toxicology report indicates it was such a small amount of fentanyl the medical examiner thinks it was probably the first time she’d been exposed to it. Given the evidence found in her room and autopsy reports, Raines is confident Kinley was exposed to the fentanyl through a laced marijuana product.

“I think when a lot of people think of drugs and fentanyl they think of like pills or maybe heroin or something, a hard drug. There was no type of drug paraphernalia in her bedroom except for what the kids call dabs, which is actually like a THC wax,” Raines said. “It’s melted down and you can smoke it out of the vape pen. Even though it was marijuana, my child died from it being laced with fentanyl.”

Even though the law enforcement agency that investigated Kinley’s death says it can’t confirm she died from fentanyl-laced THC, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) says more and more drugs are being laced with fentanyl. It’s unintentionally through cross-contamination, or deliberately to provide users with a more addictive high.

Chris Gayle, assistant special Agent in charge of the DEA’s Knoxville office, said that with no oversight or quality control among drug dealers one dose, or one pill can kill.

“Most of the folks that are having these overdoses, they’re not looking for fentanyl,” Gale said. “It’s just accidental. But it’s so prevalent and it’s out there that we want people to be aware of that.”

Rains lives in Bristol, Virginia, where medical cannabis is legal along with simple possession of cannabis for adults 21 years and older. But she said she knows her daughter did not buy the deadly dose from a legal dispensary.

Gale says that’s not safe.

“I mean, really, you’re rolling the dice, right? If you’re going onto the street or through social media, you don’t know what you’re getting. The days of experimentation are over, you’re really taking a gamble with your own health and your safety,” Gale explained.

Raines says parents need to talk to their kids about all drug use and its dangers.

“If this can happen to me and to my child, then this can happen to anyone and their child,” Raines said. “I feel like I hear a lot of ‘my child would never do that,’ or ‘with my teenager that would never happen.’ Please don’t say that. Like I felt that I felt that as well.”

Raines is sharing the incredibly personal, painful, and private story of her daughter’s overdose for one reason.

“If this saves one life, then it’s worth it,” Raines said.

Raine’s face lit up as she talked about Kinley’s sweet disposition. She said that although Kinley was still undecided about what career she wanted, she had always told her mom she wanted to do something that involved helping others. Raines said telling her story is fulfilling Kinley’s goal.

“I feel like this is what Kinley would want me to do,” Rained explained. “A lot of parents ask how I get out of bed every day. I get out of bed every day because that’s what Kinley would want me to do. And I don’t want to disappoint her.”

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