Annie’s Voice: Fighting Fentanyl & Seeking Justice

08/12/2026

https://youtu.be/mgTFWaL8qZ4?is=K57qbErCi1enYTX6

06/23/2026

05/19/2026

🚨 PSA TO THE PUBLIC 🚨

If your loved one ever becomes the victim of a homicide in Newberry, understand this: your grief may quickly become secondary to fighting for answers.

This fight is not over for Annie. Not even close.

City of Newberry Police Department — Annie deserved better. My family deserved better. And every family who loses someone deserves better than the treatment we have received.

A grieving family should have ONE job: to grieve the person they lost.

Instead, we have spent nearly a year begging for answers, begging for communication, begging to be treated like human beings while trying to survive the worst pain imaginable. No family should have to drag information out of the very people who are supposed to protect the public and seek truth for the dead.

The way my family has been handled is unacceptable.

When a loved one dies, families should not be left feeling ignored, dismissed, stonewalled, or made to feel like asking questions is a problem. Compassion should be the bare minimum. Transparency should be the bare minimum. Basic respect should be the bare minimum.

But with Newberry, grieving had to be put on the back burner because if we sat quietly and trusted the process, we would still be sitting here with nothing.

That should outrage every single person in this community.

Annie was 20 years old. She was loved. She mattered. Her life had value. And no family should have to fight this hard just to feel like their loved one mattered to the people sworn to serve and protect.

City of Newberry police depatment— you failed my family. And I will make sure people know exactly how my family was treated and how this department handles homicide cases, because the public deserves to know. Accountability matters. Transparency matters. And Annie’s life mattered.

We are not done.
Not even close.

To the ones responsible- you stole my favorite person, my absolute favorite.

05/15/2026

I stand behind every word my dad wrote.

For nearly a year, my family has been patient, respectful, and fair while dealing with the unimaginable pain of losing Annie. We stayed quiet longer than we should have because we truly hoped the City of Newberry would do the right thing. We did not receive that same respect in return, and the public deserves to know what we have been up against behind closed doors.

The City of Newberry failed Annie. That is the truth.

What should have been treated with urgency and seriousness instead felt cold, dismissive, and completely lacking compassion. My parents and I sat in meetings regarding Annie’s death and watched behavior, body language, and attitudes that no grieving family should ever have to witness from public servants entrusted to investigate the death of a 20-year-old girl.

Nearly a year later, we are still the ones pushing, asking questions, demanding accountability, and trying to force urgency into a system that should have had it from day one.

We took every avenue we could. For nearly a year, my parents and I have pleaded to Alan Wilson and David Stumbo for help, urgency, and accountability, and the truth is neither seemed to care enough to truly fight for Annie.

People need to be careful who they vote for and who they place in positions of power. Titles mean nothing if the people holding them only fight when it benefits themselves. South Carolina does not need more officials who are good at speeches and podiums. We need people with important titles who will actually do their jobs and care about our loved ones just as much as they care about their own.

Because when tragedy finally hits your family and you are the one begging for urgency, transparency, and someone — anyone — to genuinely care, you will quickly realize which officials truly serve the people and which ones only serve themselves.

My family learned that lesson the hardest way possible.

Silence is no longer an option.

This is not the end of Annie’s story, and we are not done fighting for her.

05/02/2026

If fentanyl hasn’t touched your life yet, I pray it never does.

But the reality is… it doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t care who you are, where you come from, or how careful you think you’re being.

More and more families are waking up to the kind of loss you never truly understand until it’s yours. And 9 times out of 10, people know someone—a friend, a cousin, a classmate—whose life was taken by this.

This isn’t rare. This isn’t “someone else’s problem.”
This is happening everywhere.

I wish more than anything I didn’t know this kind of pain firsthand. But I do.

So I’ll keep speaking on it… because this is real life for so many of us now. 🤍