Devastated mum issues six-word warning as two of her kids die after 'fentanyl overdose'

A mother whose worst nightmare came true after she in bed following a has issued a harrowing six-word warning to her fellow parents.

On January 14, 2024, from , was returning home early from her job as a truck driver after her truck broke down when she received a devastating call from her middle child, Allyson. It was a cold, snowy day, and her children, had been kept off from school and left in the care of their grandparents, who also lived with them.

When she'd left that morning, everything had seemed perfectly normal. The night before, the children went to bed as they usually did after an evening of watching movies. Gaige got out of his own bed at one point to snuggle up with his elder sister, as he often did. As it was a day, Kate thought nothing of it when only Alyson was awake when she left for work at 10am, believing the other two to be having a lie in.

Then came the phone call. Allyson informed her mother that Skylar and Gaige hadn't gotten out of bed and that she was unable to wake them up.

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In an exclusive interview with , Kate shared how she asked Allyson whether or not her siblings were breathing before instructing her to fetch her grandparents.

Kate recalled: "I get to the house, I run up the steps. I opened the door, and I looked in, and of course, I knew — a 12-year-old little girl's not going to know, but I knew."

The horrified mother called 911 while the children's grandmother, Kathy Jones, rushed in to administer CPR. Once the ambulance arrived, emergency workers attempted to resuscitate Skylar and Gaige, but sadly, nothing could be done to save them.

Reflecting on her loss, Kate said: “Skylar, my oldest — that's my best friend. The one who made me a mom. And my son was my mama's boy.”

In the course of their investigation, which is still underway, authorities first seized "drug paraphernalia and cell phones", which referred to a baggie found beside Skylar's bed. According to Kate, although it took some time for the autopsy results to come back, she knew the moment police discovered the baggie.

In the wake of the tragedy, Kate has now urged other parents to appreciate the time spent with their children, warning: "It could be your kid any day." She continued: "Your kid could be just an honour roll student in AP classes. Your son could be just playing on monkey bars or skating or riding his bike with his friends the day before, and then ... you just never know."

As per the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 100,000 Americans are every single year. The majority of these deaths are from fentanyl.

Kate says she remains mystified as to how her children got hold of the drugs, although she and Kathy believe the fentanyl could have been in a substance that Skylar got from a fellow school student.

Sadly, not long after the deaths of Skylar and Gaige, the family suffered another harrowing loss. Gaige's biological father, James Dehaven, who was also reportedly close with Skylar, died by suicide in November 2024.

A victim of addiction, James had also lived with depression for a significant portion of his life. According to Kate, James had been in recovery at the time of the children's deaths, and they had never seen him in active addiction.

Allyson is now receiving therapy and is said to be doing better after the shock of finding her siblings dead. In the months since the tragedy, Kate has paid tribute to her late children through her charity work.

This has included bringing baby blankets to a hospital for babies with the same birthdays as Gaige and Skylar. Going forward, the family also plans to purchase memorial benches and to establish a scholarship at Perryville High School.

Do you have a story to share? Email me at julia.banim@reachplc.com

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