The column was originally published in March of 2022.
I would have liked to meet Danielle.
She had a laugh that was infectious and a beautiful face. She was a big personality, but if she had a beef, she unleashed it ferociously. She was so fearless that she once hit a guy because she didn't have the strength to hit him. She did, he discovered.
Before she was born, her parents barely made it through the hospital doors.
She was just 19 years old at the time.
Danielle is from her family. Two years after I met and started dating her dad, Marty, she passed away.
This is one of the stories I've written about death and grief. The void of justice for Danielle's death deepened the pain they were carrying.
When Marty got home from work, he thought Danielle was in his room. In the south hills of Pittsburgh, there was a duplex with two people living alone.
Marty thought Danielle might be sleeping because the pickup truck she was driving was sitting next to the house. She was on the floor when he went up the stairs. She was cold to the touch and the heroin needle was next to her.
Oscar, a small dog, saved me in a time of grief.
She is on a quest for justice in the unsolved murders of girls.
Marty was well aware of grief. His wife, Kimmy, the mother of his two daughters, died in 2008. He quit his job as a truck driver to be with his kids and sort through their grief. Danielle was 9 years old at the time. Marty took her to counseling and changed her job to make sure she and her daughter were well taken care of.
On an anniversary, grief doesn't stop at the funeral. The soldier of sorrow marches beside it, and so it is for them. Kimmy was a piece of their hearts that they will never be able to replace.
She finished high school. Danielle was a member of the cross country team in high school. She smoked marijuana but didn't know she'd tried heroin until she overdosed. Narcan saved her life that day.
Marty believes she took too much pain medication and it led to more drugs. When Danielle was released from the hospital after the first overdose, she sat on a couch in the living room with Marty watching her. He spent the night looking for a drug rehabilitation center.
He thought nobody would take her. There weren't many beds for juvenile. The woman asked when he could get Danielle after finding a facility. He said it would take 25 minutes. They got in the car.
The facility said that insurance wouldn't cover her stay and sent her home. It was a time in Marty's life when he felt injustice. This wouldn't have happened if he were wealthy. She would stay in rehab as long as it took or the rehab would make sure to accommodate her.
Marty thought she was recovering after getting clean. She died of an overdose less than two years later, lying on her bedroom floor.
On that night, Marty asked himself a series of questions that have bugged him for three years. We did something wrong. We didn't see it.
Danielle's cell phone was taken by the Cecil Township Police Department. The texts between her and the man who sold her the drugs were already seen by Marty and Steph. They were familiar with his phone number.
Fentanyl-related overdose deaths are increasing in Pennsylvania. Most Fentanyl is a cheap add-on for other drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, from dealers who want to increase the high for their clients. Users often aren't aware that it's present when it doesn't kill them.
Pennsylvania wants to deny him custody of his children because he's 400 pounds.
The issue is so important that the state legislature is considering a bill that would give free test strips to drug users.
The man Marty believes delivered the drugs to Danielle is currently in prison. He pleaded guilty to distributing heroin and Fentanyl to another person who died.
According to Marty, the man bragged in the bar about his heroin distribution.
I am not going to share that drug dealer's name because he hasn't been charged in Danielle's death No one has been brought to justice.
No one has called the family to explain why someone hasn't been arrested. The Cecil Township Police department that would investigate Danielle's case has not responded to my calls.
Many people have been successfully prosecuted for death by drug delivery in Pennsylvania. I want to know if the chief will pursue that charge in Danielle's death. Why wouldn't you?
A man's death in western Pennsylvania led to the federal prosecution of the drug dealer. I contacted the police chief to find out why the drug dealer was not charged with death by drug delivery, and why he was prosecuted federal.
It's the toughest cases to do because your best witness is dead. It's a mountain to get up, but we treat every drug death or suspected overdose, and we work it until we can't work it any more. We've been successful in prosecution.
One of his investigators works for the Drug Enforcement Administration. I was referred to the U.S. Attorney's office by the investigator.
Margaret Philbin is a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office. She didn't comment on the plea agreement she sent me.
The mother of two sons who died from drug overdoses is a member of a Facebook group. Parents of people who overdosed on Fentanyl are included. The risk of overdoses from Fentanyl is on the rise, but it's not getting much attention.
Marty is like the other parents.
He thinks he would have justice for Danielle if he were rich. A drug dealer pointed a gun at his daughter's head and killed her, according to Marty. If he were a judge or a politician, he would sentence the man who sold Danielle the fatal dose of Fentanyl to 40 years in prison.
The man was sentenced to seven years in jail for delivering drugs.
Danielle is no longer with us.
It's a piece of their hearts that won't fit back into place. Without her at their side it means a lifetime of celebrations and sunny days. There is an empty chair. They believe in a higher power. They believe they will see her one day, and that she will laugh and smile at them.
I would like to do that as well.
Kim Strong can be reached by phone.
Fentanyl overdose deaths are not prosecuted equally in Pennsylvania.
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