Texas Man Charged With Murder After Selling Pill Containing Deadly Dose of Fentanyl

Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw speaks with Gov. Greg Abbott at a news conference to discuss measures to address the problem of fentanyl in the state, in Beaumont, Texas, on Oct. 17, 2022. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

A Texas man is facing a murder charge in connection with the fentanyl death of a 26-year-old man.

On Dec. 12, authorities in Tarrant County charged Jacob Lindsay with the murder of Brandon Harrison, who died three months ago after taking a pill that contained a fatal dose of fentanyl. Mr. Lindsay was previously charged with selling the drug to the young man.

“The message it sends to the dope dealers is, we’re coming for you,” Sgt. Scott Barnes of the Fort Worth Police Department’s Fentanyl Overdose Response Team told KTVT-TV. “Stop selling fentanyl, or you’re going to get hooked up for murder.”

The murder charge is the first of its kind in the North Texas county, which sits about 30 miles west of Dallas. In June, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 6 into law, allowing prosecutors to pursue murder charges against drug dealers who sell a fatal dose of the synthetic opioid.

Mr. Barnes said the law gives law enforcement “some teeth to fight the epidemic” at a time when his unit in Fort Worth is working three deaths a week caused by fentanyl.

The new law also requires death certificates to designate fentanyl poisoning as the cause of death for purposes of pursuing charges against drug dealers. The law took effect on Sept. 1.

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Brandon’s Harrison father, Richard Harrison, said he felt a “sense of relief” after learning that Mr. Lindsay had been charged in the death of his son, who died on Sept. 18.

“Joy, kind of a, kind of a sense of relief—a little bit,” Mr. Harrison told the local news outlet. “It was a little bit of justice, maybe, that is going to be served.”

Mr. Lindsay’s murder charge is expected to be presented to a grand jury. At press time, he was still being held in the Tarrant County Jail on four separate charges, including murder, with a total bond of $127,000.

‘This Pill Will Kill You’

Fentanyl is 50 times more powerful than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. Just two milligrams, or about the weight of 10–15 grains of salt, can be fatal.

Mr. Harrison said his son had been battling addiction, but he was trying to turn his life around when he took the pill that killed him.

In September, Brandon bought two blue pills from a dealer. He thought he had purchased Percocet, a pharmaceutical opioid.

“He took one pill,” Mr. Harrison told WFAA-TV less than a month after his son’s death. “One pill was it. And he never woke up.”

The fake pills are often sold on social media as Oxycodone, Xanax, Vicodin, Adderall, or other pharmaceuticals. The pills are made using the same molds used by drug companies, making them look nearly identical to the purchaser.

Mr. Harrison said that he and his wife want to bring awareness to the dangers of the fentanyl epidemic.

“This pill will kill you,” he said.

Mr. Harrison told KTVT that his other son, Blake Harrison, wants to do his part to help save others from losing their children and loved ones to the deadly drug. Blake is training to become a narcotics officer for the Dallas Police Department.

“He’s going to 100 percent make a difference and try to get these guys off the street as well,” he said. “[Narcotics officers] are saving kids’ lives, and I mean, what’s that worth? Can you put a dollar amount on that? You can’t.”

Fentanyl-Related Deaths Rise in Texas

Fentanyl-related deaths in Texas have risen significantly over the past three years.

The rate more than doubled from 2019 to 2020, with 317 and 891 fentanyl-related deaths, respectively, according to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services.

That number nearly doubled again in 2021 over the prior year, with 1,648 deaths related to the drug. Last year, 2,192 drug-related deaths were linked to fentanyl poisoning.

As of Dec. 11, there have been more than 1,511 fentanyl-related deaths in 2023, according to the data.