‘The worst pain possible’: A Southern California mother loses two children to fentanyl

As federal agents seize fentanyl at record levels, a mother who lost two teenagers to the deadly drug is speaking out to try to save other families from “the worst pain possible.”

Tyler Gordon, 18, and his younger sister Jenna, 16, died within 10 months of each other in the bedrooms of their Riverside County home. They both died from a fentanyl overdose.

“It really is the invisible killer,” their mother, Tammy Lyon-Gordon, told KTLA’s Kareen Wynter. “They had no idea they were using fentanyl. To let them die at home. A place where they felt safe haunts me every day.”

In 2020, Tyler took what he thought was Percocet after purchasing it from Snapchat. However, the drug contained fentanyl and caused the teen to overdose.

Jenna died less than a year later after unknowingly taking counterfeit Xanax, which investigators told Lyon-Gordon was pure fentanyl — a synthetic opioid 100 times more powerful than morphine.

“This should never have happened,” the grieving mother said. “It still doesn’t seem real to me.”

Tyler and Jenna Gordon are seen in this undated family photo.

Fentanyl is a pharmaceutical drug that doctors can prescribe for severe pain. However, its illegal use has led to an epidemic with criminals manufacturing and selling the drug because it is cheap, easy to produce and highly addictive.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), California has one of the highest rates of fatal overdoses involving fentanyl. Most shipments are smuggled into the US from Mexico.

Deputy Special Agent in Charge of the DEA, Anthony Chrysantis, warns the public about the discreet presence of fentanyl.

“This drug coming in from the cartels is widely available and you have to be careful because if you get your hands on the wrong stuff you can die,” Chrysantis said.

The DEA says seizures of fentanyl, both in powder and pill form, are at record levels. Federal agents seized more than 29,000 pounds of fentanyl in 2023, nearly doubling the seizure in the past two years.

In Los Angeles County, fatal overdoses and poisonings involving fentanyl have increased 1,652% — from 109 deaths in 2016 to 1,910 deaths in 2022, according to the Department of Health.

However, the rate of increase slowed significantly in 2023, with a smaller increase of 3% to a 1970 increase in deaths across the country.

The LA County Sheriff’s Department numbers are more important so far. LASD serves unincorporated communities and approximately half of the cities in the LA County region. Fentanyl overdose deaths and poisoning deaths have fallen by 30% in their reported counties.

“Since 2023, we have recovered more than 3 million fentanyl pills,” said Lt. Bobby Dean, who oversees the Sheriff’s Department’s Overdose Response Task Force. “Over 150 pounds of fentanyl powder – that’s enough fentanyl to kill the entire state of California.”

The Task Force investigates overdose deaths and fentanyl poisonings and works with the federal government on prosecutions that carry harsher penalties.

“So it’s a phenomenal deterrent. We have over 27 cases in various stages of prosecution,” Dean said. “All of these individuals are looking at a mandatory minimum of 20 years.”

Statistics show that every drug bust, arrest and conviction saves lives.

“We get everything we can off the streets and try to make them safer. But there are endless quantities of these synthetic opioids,” Chrysantis warned. “As long as there’s money to be made, they’ll be out there.”

For those who may not get the help in time, like Tyler and Jenna Gordon, their mother has a powerful message to spare other families the heartbreak.

“I live with the worst pain possible,” Lyon-Gordon said. “Talk to your children about the dangers. Don’t lose them to this drug.”