Alexandra’s Story: Wrongfully Labeled an Accident
On December 22, 2019, twenty-year-old Alexandra Capelouto was home from college for Christmas break. She was bright, loving, and looking forward to the holidays with her family. That night she contacted someone she believed she could trust to buy what she thought was a legitimate prescription pain pill to help her sleep.
The man she reached out to, Brandon McDowell, later admitted under oath that he possessed fentanyl with the intent to distribute it. He drove to her home in Temecula and sold her counterfeit pills made to look like Percocet, blue M30s that he knew contained fentanyl or another controlled substance. He knowingly placed these fake pills into the hands of a twenty-year-old student.
Alexandra went to bed that night unaware that the pill she took was fake. She ingested half of one tablet. The fentanyl inside poisoned her and caused her death. This fact is not a theory or assumption. It is what the dealer himself acknowledged:
He distributed the fentanyl to Alexandra, the use of which resulted in Alexandra’s death.
Despite this direct causation, her death certificate lists Accident as the manner of death.
There was nothing accidental about it.
The pill was counterfeit.
The fentanyl was deliberate.
The distribution was intentional.
The outcome was fatal.
Alexandra’s death was the result of a criminal act of poisoning, not an Accident. Her story reflects a widespread problem in which drug poisoning deaths are misclassified, leaving families without truth, victims without justice, and the public without a clear understanding of the dangers affecting so many lives.
Alexandra’s death was not an accident. It was the direct result of another person’s criminal actions.
Matt
Alexandra’s Dad