A California mother has been left devastated after her two teenage children died within just 10 months of each other after falling victim to an ‘invisible killer.’
Tyler Gordon, 18, was found unconscious on his bedroom floor at around 9am on April 23, 2020 after taking what he thought was Percocet he bought off Snapchat, Mercury News reports.
The drug, though, contained fentanyl and caused the teen to fatally overdose.
His younger sister, Jenna, 16, died less than a year later, on February 24, 2021, after taking counterfeit Xanax, which investigators later determined was pure fentanyl – a synthetic opioid 100 times more potent than morphine.
‘This never should have happened,’ their still grieving mother, Tammy Lyon-Gordon, told KTLA. ‘It still doesn’t seem real to me.’
Tyler Gordon, 18, and Jenna Gordon, 16, died within just 10 months of each other after unknowingly taking fentanyl
She went on to call the powerful drug an ‘invisible killer,’ noting that neither of her children had any ‘idea they were taking fentanyl.
‘To have them die at home, a place they felt safe haunts me every day.’
Shortly before his untimely death, Tyler started working at the same business as his mother. In the short time he was working there, Lyon-Gordon said, the management had already been thinking of promoting him.
But Tyler had also planned to attend Mt. Saint Jacinto College, then transfer to Cal State Fullerton, which his girlfriend was attending, to study music production.
It seemed like a major turn-around for the teenager, who had previously undergone outpatient treatment and group therapy for opioid addiction.
He detoxed in September 2019 and Lyon-Gordon told Mercury News she believes her son stayed sober from that point up until his death.
‘He was busy. He was working,’ she said. ‘So for Tyler, I honestly think he was in such a good place that he thought, «Hey, it’s not going to hurt me.»
‘I didn’t see the signs.’
Tammy Lyon-Gordon, their grieving mother, says she is still haunted by their deaths
She said Tyler had recently gotten a job and had been planning to study music production when he died on April 23, 2020
Less than a year later, Jenna was sitting in her bedroom with her boyfriend, Raymond Gene Tyrrell II, when prosecutors said he and Jenna were sharing one of six counterfeit Percocet pills he obtained, crushing it and snorting it in her bedroom.
The two were found unconscious in her bedroom just before 7pm on February 24, 2021, and were rushed to a local hospital.
Raymond Gene Tyrrell II was convicted over the summer of involuntary manslaughter in Jenna’s death
Tyrrell was resuscitated and survived, but Jenna was pronounced dead about an hour later.
He was then charged with a single count of murder on March 1 of that year, after the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office pledged to crack down on those who supply fentanyl.
A jury ultimately convicted Tyrrell on the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter this past summer, and he was sentenced to three years in prison on July 31, the San Bernardino Sun reports.
Lyon-Gordon said in the aftermath she was disappointed in the jury’s decision.
‘To say I am devastated about the jury’s verdict is an understatement,’ the mother said in her victim impact statement at Tyrrell’s sentencing hearing.
‘The jury’s decision yesterday brought me to my knees because I feel like I have lost my daughter all over again,’ she said, telling how Jenna aspired to attend college in Montana and become an equine veterinarian.
The two were sitting in Jenna’s bedroom on February 24, 2021 when they were snorting counterfeit Percocet pills Tyrrell obtained – that were actually pure fentanyl
Jenna had dreamed of attending college in Montana and becoming an equine veterinarian
‘On February 24, 2021, my whole world changed for a second time – I lost my child at the hands of another person,’ Lyon-Gordon said.
‘While the paramedics were in my house trying to save my daughter, I was on my knees begging God to let me switch places with Jenna, to take me instead.
‘I’ve lost 95 pounds since Jenna’s life was taken,’ she continued. ‘I had already lost my 18-year-old son.
‘I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I can’t breathe because of my constant anxiety. I have been battling depression for over three years, I’m in constant flight-or-fight mode.
‘I don’t have dreams when I sleep anymore,’ Lyon-Gordon added. ‘I feel like a shell of the person I used to be.
‘I had a purpose in life and that was being her mother,’ she said. ‘[Tyrrell] stole my purpose in life.’
Lyon-Gordon said the loss of her children has left her with anxiety and depression
The grieving mother went on to say she believes Tyrrell is a ‘true danger to our community and to society.
‘He knew that my son died from a fake Percocet, he knew others who died from this as well. He, himself, almost died from fake pills, yet he still gave it to her knowing the dangers.’
But in his own statement, read by his attorney Charles Kenyon, Tyrrell said he was ‘deeply sorry’ for his actions and any role he played in Kenna’s death.
‘I did care about Jenna and never would have done anything to hurt her,’ the attorney read. ‘I am sorry for any pain I have caused her family and friends.
‘I will attend drug treatment because I know I will fight this the rest of my life,’ he vowed. ‘If I can save someone else from drugs, I pledge to do that too.
‘I am sorry for my actions, and will live with this shameful burden of regret for the rest of my life.’
Deputy Special Agent in Charge for the DEA Anthony Chrysantis warned that fentanyl remains out in the community, despite the agency’s efforts to take it off the streets
Meanwhile, California officials are working to reduce opioid overdoses.
It currently has one of the highest rates of fatal overdoses involving fentanyl, with most shipments trafficked into the US from Mexico, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
‘This drug that’s coming in from the cartels is out there, and you need to be careful because if you get your hands on the wrong stuff, you can die,’ Deputy Special Agent in Charge for the DEA Anthony Chrysantis warned.
He said the department’s seizure of fentanyl – both in powder and pill form – are at record levels.
In 2023, federal agents seized over 29,000 pounds of the illicit drug – nearly doubling the intake amount over the previous two years.
In Los Angeles County, California, meanwhile, fentanyl overdoses and poisonings soared by 1652 percent – from 109 deaths in 2016 to 1910 deaths in 2022, according to the Department of Public Health.
Still, there are some good signs, as the increase rate slowed in 2023 with a smaller three percent bump to 1,970 deaths and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reports that fentanyl overdose and poisoning deaths are down 30 percent.
‘Since 2023, we’ve recovered over 3 million fentanyl pills,’ said Lt. Bobby Dean, who oversees the Sheriff’s Department Overdose Response Task Force. ‘Over 150 kilos of powdered fentanyl – that’s enough fentanyl to kill the entire state of California.’
He noted that more than 27 fentanyl cases are currently being prosecuted and ‘all of those individuals are looking at a 20 year mandatory minimum.’
Chrysantis also said the DEA is ‘taking everything we can off the streets, trying to make them safer. But these synthetic opioids, there’s just an endless amount of them.
‘As long as there’s money to be made, they’re going to be out there,’ he warned.
As the drugs continue to flood the streets, Lyon-Gordon is urging other parents to be careful.
‘I’m living with the worst pain possible,’ she told KTLA.
‘Speak with your kids about the dangers,’ she urged. ‘Don’t lose them to this drug.’
