A woman is charged with murder after investigators say she sold fentanyl to a man who died Hutto in October. It’s just the latest charge under the 2023 law.
CEDAR CREEK, Texas — For the past couple of years, Libby Pender, her husband, Frank, and their family members have taken a retreat around this time of the year.
July 1 is when Pender’s middle son, John Salem, was born.
But instead of celebrating the occasion with John, the family solemnly remembers his life and love.
“Life is forever changed. It will be forever changed. It’s never going back,” Pender said.
In May 2022, she said her 38-year-old son was ecstatic to be closing out what she calls “the biggest deal of his sales career.”
But she said he lived with chronic pain, and she believes he wanted to get a good night’s sleep. He took Percocet that turned out to contain fentanyl. On Tuesday, May 10, she and her oldest son found him lifeless in bed.
“No mother ever wants to go through that,” Pender said. “It’s the worst thing in my whole life. It haunts me every day.”
Now, she is throwing her energy into bringing her son’s dealer to justice.
Recently, a woman named Crystal Perez was arrested and charged with murder in connection with a fentanyl-related death in Hutto last October. A man was found dead in his bedroom, and investigators found a baggie containing a small, white, rock-like substance beside his body. The substance ended up testing positive for fentanyl.
Nearly two years ago, House Bill 6 went into effect, allowing officials to charge fentanyl dealers with murder if they sell a dose that leads to death.
Since the bill became law, the Travis County Sheriff’s Office said it has at least two cases under investigation. Williamson County had its first fentanyl-related murder conviction in March, and the Williamson County District Attorney said his office added an additional attorney in its intake division to handle all fentanyl-related special crime cases to help with this crisis.
Pender is now doing what she can to stop the flow of fentanyl and sharing harsh words for the person responsible for her family’s loss.
“He stole my heart. He stole my son from me,” she said. “And our family will never be the same.”
Pender said her son’s dealer has pleaded guilty to charges related to selling and distributing an illegal substance resulting in death. A sentencing hearing is coming up in July.