ESCONDIDO, Calif. — A North County family is grieving over the death of their teenage son, a recent Escondido graduate, who they say died from an accidental fentanyl overdose. 18-year-old Kai Atesalp was found dead inside his home on the morning of July 14.
“He died from something so small, and he made a stupid mistake being a teenager and it can happen to anybody,” said Julie Atesalp, Kai’s step-mom.
“It's really really hard and it will never be the same,” said Ramsey Atesalp, Kai’s father.
Kai’s parents say Kai’s body was discovered by his 12-year-old sister after they asked her to wake him up.
"She walked into his room and just came out white as a ghost. Her voice was shaking and she goes there's something wrong and I shot up the stairs and sent her down right away, and he was laying in his bed like he was asleep, but he had vomit around his mouth," said Ramsey.
Ramsey tried to resuscitate Kai, but it was too late. Police later found a pill inside Kai's room that was laced with fentanyl.
Kai's parents say a search of his Instagram messages revealed he bought two pills from an acquaintance that he thought was the painkiller, Percocet.
“Someone made four dollars off of my son and it took his life,” said Ramsey
Kai just graduated from Escondido High School, where he was a star wrestler. He was set to attend Luther College in Iowa next month on a nearly full-ride scholarship.
Kai's parents said that he had friends, got good grades, and was very close to them, as well as his three younger siblings.
They had talked to him before about the dangers of pills, especially in light of the growing fentanyl crisis, never envisioning he'd become a victim. “No signs. He just went off of a peer’s word for it instead of listening to his parents or people who were trying to help him his whole life,” said Ramsey.
Kai's parents are sharing his story, in hopes of preventing a similar tragedy from happening to someone else.
"We can't do anything to bring Kai back. And, the amount of pain and devastation the whole family is dealing with right now, I can’t imagine having anyone else go through this," said Ramsey.
A 17-year-old has been arrested for possession and sale of narcotics, though more charges could be added.
The family set up a Go Fund Me page to help raise funds to assist the family with expenses related to Kai's death and to provide support for Kai's siblings.
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