TV host and relationship therapist Laura Berman said that her son died following an overdose of drugs received from a person he connected with on Snapchat, according to CNN.
“My beautiful boy is gone. 16 years old,” Berman posted on Instagram referring to the death of her son, Samuel Berman Chapman, according to CNN.
“A drug dealer connected with him on Snapchat and gave him fentinyl (sic) laced Xanax or Percocet (toxicology will tell) and he overdosed in his room,” Berman further added in the post, according to CNN.
“Straight A student. Getting ready for college. Experimentation gone bad. He got the drugs delivered to the house,” continued Berman per CNN before adding “Please watch your kids and WATCH SNAPCHAT especially. That’s how they get them.”
Dr. Laura Berman speaks out after 16-year-old son dies of apparent drug overdose at Santa Monica home https://t.co/F0U3QwWyI8
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) February 10, 2021
Samuel Chapman, husband to Laura and the father of their three children, described in a conversation with CNN finding Samuel in his room lying face up in “a classic fentanyl death pose, where . . . their breathing slows down so much their body starts convulsing.”
“There’s never been a hard drug in our house that we were aware of, until this Snapchat dealer met my son online,” he said before adding that Samuel had experimented with marijuana before but was passing frequent drug tests, according to CNN.
Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner has launched an investigation into the death, spokeswoman Sarah Ardalani said, according to CNN.
Snapchat spokeswoman Rachel Racusen said in an emailed statement to CNN that “We are committed to working together with law enforcement in this case and in all instances where Snapchat is used for illegal purposes.”
Racusen further added that “We have zero tolerance for using Snapchat to buy or sell illegal drugs,” according to CNN.
Chapman remembers his son as a “beautiful soul” with “plans and dreams. He was a good student and a great friend to his fellow students,” according to CNN. (RELATED: The Pandemic Has Led To More Drug Overdoses In A 12-Month Period Than At Any Point In US History)