{"id":17043,"date":"2026-07-25T19:12:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T14:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=17043"},"modified":"2026-07-25T19:12:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T14:12:41","slug":"socal-woman-convicted-of-murder-for-supplying-lethal-fentanyl-dose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=17043","title":{"rendered":"SoCal woman convicted of murder for supplying lethal fentanyl dose"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-element=\"story-body\" data-subscriber-content=\"\">\n<p>When Esther Lopez went to her son\u2019s bedroom to check if he was hungry, she found him slumped over on a table, cold to the touch. <\/p>\n<p>She called 911 and paramedics rushed to the Moreno Valley home and started CPR, according to court documents. But it was too late. Jesse Jimenez was dead of a fentanyl overdose at 27.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, the woman who supplied him the lethal dose, 23-year-old Savanna Michelle Carlos, was sentenced to 15 years to life after a jury found her guilty of second-degree murder.<\/p>\n<p>Riverside County Sheriff\u2019s Office detectives recovered a burned fentanyl pill, tin foil and a cellphone from Jimenez\u2019s bedroom after he died on Feb. 2, 2023, according to court documents. By examining his messages and other evidence, they determined that Carlos had provided him with fentanyl after he reached out to multiple dealers seeking the drug.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy couldn\u2019t she just say no? She\u2019s an evil person,\u201d Lopez wrote in a statement presented at Carlos\u2019 sentencing hearing. \u201cA friend will pick you up when you fall, not kill you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Detectives also uncovered evidence that Carlos was well aware of the dangers of fentanyl, as she was present when another person was poisoned by the drug several months earlier. <\/p>\n<p>On July 30, 2022, Riverside County sheriff\u2019s deputies responding to a reported overdose found Carlos performing CPR on an unconscious man. At that time, she received a clear warning from law enforcement about fentanyl, according to court documents.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, she continued to sell the drug, including the dose that ultimately killed Jimenez, prosecutors said. <\/p>\n<p>By analyzing social media, phone and financial records, detectives found that she even continued to sell the narcotic after she knew Jimenez had fatally overdosed, according to court documents. <\/p>\n<p>At Friday\u2019s sentencing hearing, Riverside County Deputy Dist. Atty. Seth DuMouchel said that Carlos\u2019 behavior demonstrates that she presents an ongoing danger to the community. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy hope is that the court understands Jesse was more than a victim,\u201d Jimenez\u2019s niece, who did not wish to be named, wrote in an impact statement. \u201cHe was a son, a brother, an uncle, a family member and a friend. He was deeply loved, he is deeply missed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Filing murder charges against people who provide lethal doses of fentanyl is relatively new in California. Riverside County has embraced the approach in hopes of disrupting the drug trade and preventing overdoses. <\/p>\n<p>In 2023, the Riverside County district attorney\u2019s office achieved a guilty verdict in the state\u2019s first fentanyl-related homicide jury trial, which also resulted in a sentence of 15 years to life. Since 2021, the county has filed murder charges in 44 fentanyl overdose cases and  secured convictions in 29, according to an online <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/rivcoda.org\/fighting_fentanyl\" target=\"_blank\">dashboard.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Part of the success is due to new legal developments, including a voter-approved measure requiring courts to provide defendants with a clear warning of the dangers of fentanyl when they are convicted of selling or transporting the drug. <\/p>\n<p>This makes it easier for prosecutors to then pursue second-degree murder charges if the same person later sells a lethal dose, as they can prove the person was aware of the risk. <\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors have also had luck securing convictions by working with the Department of Justice to file federal charges for distributing fentanyl that later results in death. Such offenses can carry a minimum sentence of 20 years to life. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Esther Lopez went to her son\u2019s bedroom to check if he was hungry, she found him slumped over on a table, cold to the touch. She called 911 and paramedics rushed to the Moreno Valley home and started CPR, according to court documents. But it was too late. Jesse Jimenez was dead of a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/01bb4f7\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4276x2245+0+303\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff0%2Fe0%2Fc76c2ce84332a6e3980a5c55704d%2Fme-savanna-michelle-carlos-fentanyl-murder.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}