3rd Semmes teen dies from fentanyl overdose: How parents can intervene

SEMMES, Ala. ( WKRG ) — A fentanyl overdose is now taking the blame for a third Semmes teenager’s death over the past three years.

18-year-old Jayce Ward died on Aug. 6 at a home in Semmes. We now know his cause of death was from fentanyl.

15-year-old Adrianna Taylor died from an overdose in September 2022, and a 17-year-old boy was found dead in a home on Howells Ferry Road last Monday.

“Once we arrived on the scene and we established what was really happening at that time and the identity of the deceased,” Semmes Police Chief Todd Freind said. “We immediately called the sheriff’s office for their narcotics division to come and assist with us.”

Freind said his officers are finding leads and passing them onto the narcotics unit.

He said Semmes Police wants to help the sheriff’s office determine where the fentanyl is coming from.

“There’s a drug problem everywhere,” Freind said. “I mean, every community you go to nowadays; unfortunately, there’s a drug problem.”

One of the biggest components to ending teenage overdose deaths starts with the parents.

“They need to know what’s going on in their kids’ lives,” Freind said. “They need to know where they are going and who they are hanging out with because who they are hanging out with is going to show you what their future is going to look like.”

“Preach to them and teach them not to take anything from anybody whether it be a piece of gum, a piece of candy, whatever the case may be,” Freind continued. “They don’t need to eat or drink anything from anybody.”

Freind left WKRG News 5 with one final message.

“Any drug out there that you can take can kill you because you don’t know where it came from,” Freind said. “You can’t trust the person that gives it to you to tell you what it is, and it can very well kill you.”

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