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Jaydynn's Light
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Greeley, Colorado  /  501(c)(3) Nonprofit

Is trying
worth dying?

Jaydynn was 16. The first and only time she ever tried a pill, she took half of one. It was counterfeit, and it contained illicit fentanyl. She did not overdose — she was poisoned. There is no safe amount, and there is no safe first time.

Jaydynn, smiling outdoors in a navy sweater
A few white grains of fentanyl beside a one-cent coin
2 milligrams of fentanyl beside a penny. A potentially lethal dose for an adult. Source: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
One pill can kill

It only takes
one time.

Two milligrams — a few grains of salt — can stop a person's breathing. Counterfeit pills are pressed to look exactly like Percocet, Xanax and Adderall, sold through social media, and delivered in minutes.

The children taking them are not addicts. They are teenagers who believe they know what they are swallowing. Jaydynn had never taken a pill before the one that killed her.

See what a lethal dose looks like
Data sheet  /  2025–2026

Nationally the numbers fell. In Colorado they rose.

U.S. overdose deaths fell about 13% in 2025, to roughly 70,700. Colorado was one of only three states where they rose 10% or more — the second increase here in three years.

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Coloradans died of drug overdoses in 2025 — up from 1,640 the year before.
CDC provisional data, Oct 2026
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A few grains of salt. Enough fentanyl to kill an adult who has no tolerance.
DEA
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Of fentanyl pills the DEA tested in fiscal 2025 held a potentially lethal dose. That is down from 76% two years earlier — and still nearly one in three.
DEA lab testing, FY2025
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Fentanyl pills seized in Colorado in 2025 — up 76% from 3.8 million in 2024, and more than 1 in 10 seized nationwide.
DEA Rocky Mountain Field Division
Who she was

Jaydynn

Spunky, sassy, smiley. Sixteen years old. She loved to sing, to dance, and to hug like nobody's business — a free spirit who somehow always seemed to be everywhere at once.

She was a daughter, a sister, a granddaughter, a niece, a cousin, and a friend to so many. Her striking blue eyes showed the light within her, and it got brighter through her smile the moment she walked into a room.

Read her story
Jaydynn beside a school mural reading Be strong when you are weak, brave when you are scared and humble when you are victorious
Jaydynn laughing
Jaydynn pointing at Mount Rushmore
Your donation matters

Every dollar goes into warning somebody else's child.

We are a volunteer-run 501(c)(3). Donations fund awareness materials, school and community education, and support for families who have lost a child the way we lost Jaydynn.

$5
Extends our outreach so one more family finds us before it is too late.
$25
Prints a run of warning cards for a school, a clinic or a community event.
$100
Puts a fentanyl-awareness presentation in front of a room full of students.
$250
Helps us reach a grieving family in the first week, when it matters most.
Give Now
For parents and educators

Know it before it kills somebody you love

Documentary

The Void

Death delivered to your doorstep. A free, copyright-cleared film on how fentanyl reaches teenagers through social media. If you watch nothing else, watch this.

Watch →
Documentary

Devastated

Steffan Tubbs' film on Colorado's fentanyl disaster. Jaydynn's family tells her story as part of it.

Watch →
Parent guide

The emoji code

Dealers and teens use emoji to order drugs on Snapchat and Telegram. Learn the icons on your child's phone tonight.

See the chart →
Remembrance wall

Light a candle for someone you lost

Fentanyl has taken too many sons and daughters, parents and friends. Say their name and light a candle with families who understand.

Light a candle {{ wallCount }}  {{ wallCountLabel }}
Our story

Jaydynn

Sixteen years old. Lost to fentanyl poisoning on Sunday, July 25, 2021.

Jaydynn's Light exists because of her.

Jaydynn smiling over her shoulder
The word matters

Jaydynn did not overdose. She was poisoned.

It was her first time. She took half of one pill — less than half — believing she knew what it was. It was a counterfeit tablet containing illicit fentanyl. A person who swallows a poison they did not know was there has not overdosed. They have been poisoned, and somebody poisoned them.

We are exact about this word, because the wrong one lets people file our daughter away as someone else's problem — a risk she took, a habit she had. She had no habit. She was a 16-year-old girl who tried something once, and she was killed for it.

Our beautiful Jaydynn was a spunky, sassy, smiley 16-year-old who loved to sing, dance and hug like nobody's business.

She was a free spirit who somehow always seemed to be everywhere. She was a daughter, a sister, a granddaughter, a niece, a cousin, and a friend to so many. Her striking blue eyes showed her light within, and it became even brighter through her smile as she entered any room.

On Sunday, July 25, 2021, Jaydynn ingested half — or less than half — of a pill she did not know was laced with fentanyl. It was the first time she had ever tried one. She was not an addict and she was not an experiment gone wrong. She was a teenager who believed she knew what she was taking, and she was wrong by two milligrams.

We are determined to carry Jaydynn's legacy forward through Jaydynn's Light: to raise awareness about the fentanyl crisis tearing through our country, to educate the people who can still be warned, and to stand beside the families who are now living what we live.

Portrait of Jaydynn
Her words, on a wall at school

Be strong when you are weak. Brave when you are scared. Humble when you are victorious.

Since that day

July 25, 2021
Jaydynn dies of fentanyl poisoning after taking part of a counterfeit pill — the first and only time she ever tried one. She is 16.
2022
Jaydynn's Light is established as a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit in Greeley, Colorado, and holds its first annual Light Up fundraiser.
July 2023
Our director speaks about Jaydynn on the Steffan Tubbs Show, two years to the day after her death.
August 2023
The Greeley Tribune covers the second annual Light Up fundraiser.
March 2024
Jaydynn's family is featured in Devastated: Colorado's Fentanyl Disaster, a documentary by Steffan Tubbs.
Now
Educating parents, teens and schools — and working to bring drug awareness programs back into the public school system.
Our mission

To continue Jaydynn's legacy by raising awareness of and educating others on the dangers of illicit fentanyl poisoning, while supporting families who have suffered a similar loss — and to bring drug awareness programs back into the public school system.

Our vision

An educated, drug-free world where future generations will no longer have to stop and ask themselves, “Is trying worth dying?”

Light a candle

Keep her light on

Light a candle for Jaydynn. You can leave your first name and a few words. Our family reads every one before it appears here.

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Lost someone else to fentanyl? Light a candle for them on our remembrance wall →

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Resources  /  Awareness and prevention

One pill can kill

Deceptive drugs made of fentanyl are killing young people across America. It arrives through counterfeit pills, cocaine and any other street drug you can name — sold anonymously through social media and delivered within minutes. Learn about it now, before it kills you or someone you love.

What a deadly dose looks like

Fentanyl grains beside a penny
Two milligrams of fentanyl next to a one-cent coin. For most people this is a lethal dose.
A lethal dose of fentanyl on the tip of a pencil
The amount that fits on a pencil tip. That is all it can take. Image: DEA.
By the numbers
100×
More potent than morphine.
.02–5.1 mg
The range DEA has found in a single counterfeit tablet — up to twice a lethal dose.
500,000
People one kilogram of fentanyl could kill.
DEA — One Pill Can Kill →
{{ compareKicker }}

Which one of these would kill you?

Both faces of two tablets. One came from a pharmacy. One was pressed in a clandestine lab and carries a dose of fentanyl that can stop your breathing. Look as long as you like, then accept that on a kitchen counter, in a dim room, from a friend — you could not tell. Neither could Jaydynn.

↔
Genuine
Counterfeit
Genuine — Mallinckrodt oxycodone 30 mg
Counterfeit — pressed with fentanyl

Comparison photographs from the DEA's One Pill Can Kill campaign. dea.gov/onepill

The substance

What is illicit fentanyl?

Illicit fentanyl and its analogues are extremely dangerous synthetic opioids with high abuse potential and severe effects including coma and death. They are used as adulterants in street heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine, or sold as heroin substitutes to users who have no idea what they are taking.

Fentanyl has also been identified in counterfeit medicines pressed to look like oxycodone, hydrocodone and alprazolam — and in speedball mixtures with cocaine and other stimulants.

An eye shedding a tear filled with pills

Facts about counterfeit pills

01

Criminal drug networks mass-produce fake pills and market them as legitimate prescriptions to deceive the public.

02

They are easy to buy, widely available, frequently contain fentanyl or methamphetamine, and can be deadly.

03

They are sold openly on social media and e-commerce platforms — available to anyone with a smartphone, including minors.

04

Many are made to look like OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin, Xanax or Adderall. You cannot tell by looking.

For parents — tonight

Know the icons your child is using

Dealers and teens use emoji to name and order specific drugs on social platforms, then have them delivered to the door. The chart shows the icons in use.

Check your child's phone even though they will hate it. Know who they are talking to. If they use an app that deletes or encrypts messages after they are sent — Snapchat, Telegram — we strongly suggest it comes off the phone.

Start the conversation

You cannot buy a legitimate pharmaceutical on social media. Not one. Tell your child that sentence tonight.

DEA chart of emoji codes used to buy and sell drugs on social media

Watch these films

Death delivered to your doorstep

The Void

A film by Dominic Tierno and Christine Wood. It is free of any copyright and may be used for any educational or informational purpose — show it in a classroom, a church basement, a living room.

If you don't read anything else on this site, watch this.

Colorado's fentanyl disaster

Devastated

A documentary by Steffan Tubbs. Our story became part of his film after he learned about Jaydynn, and we have spoken with him many times since — on the radio and off.

Jaydynn is in this film. So are we.

Help us put this in front of the next classroom

Donate Now
Donate

Keep somebody else's child alive

Thank you for joining us in the movement to address the dangers of fentanyl in our communities. Small donations make a bigger difference than you think. Jaydynn's Light is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit and your gift is tax-deductible.
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Jaydynn laughing
Where it goes
  • Awareness materials for schools, clinics and community events
  • Fentanyl education presentations for students and parents
  • Support for families in the first weeks after losing a child
  • Advocacy to return drug awareness programs to public schools
Prefer to mail a check?

Make it payable to Jaydynn's Light and send it to:

2230 80th Ave. Ct.
Greeley, CO 80634

Jaydynn's Light is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, EIN 87-2827898. Gifts are tax-deductible as allowed by law. See our Candid (GuideStar) profile. Questions about giving: info@jaydynnslight.org

Other ways to help

Tell one person

Send the film to one parent or one teenager. That is free and it is the whole point.

Bring us to your school

We speak to students, staff and parent groups across northern Colorado. Get in touch.

Sponsor Light Up

Our annual fundraiser runs each summer in Greeley. Business sponsors keep it free to attend.

Ask your employer

Many companies match charitable gifts dollar for dollar. It takes one form and doubles your donation.
Gallery

Her light

Jaydynn, and the people carrying her forward. Every statistic on this site was somebody's child.

More photographs from the annual Light Up fundraiser can be added here — send us the files and we will place them.
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Light a candle

Say their name

Fentanyl has taken sons and daughters, parents, brothers, sisters and friends. Light a candle here for someone you have lost, wherever you are.

Every candle is counted right away. Names and words appear on the wall after our family has read them, so this stays a gentle place.

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Your candle for {{ wallLitFor }} is lit. Their name will appear on the wall once our family has read it.

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Candles on the wall

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The first names will appear here soon. Light a candle above to add someone you love.

You are not alone

Losing someone to fentanyl is a grief like no other. Our family has walked it since we lost Jaydynn in 2021. If you want to talk, reach out and we will listen. If you are struggling right now, call or text 988, any time.
Get help now

If someone may be overdosing, call 911 now.

Give naloxone (Narcan) if you have it. Stay with them. In Colorado, the law protects you when you call for help.

Signs of an overdose

  • Won’t wake up or respond to their name or a hard rub on the breastbone
  • Slow, shallow or stopped breathing
  • Snoring, gurgling or choking sounds
  • Blue or gray lips and fingertips
  • Very small “pinpoint” pupils
  • Limp body, cold or clammy skin

What to do

  1. Call 911. Say the person is not breathing or won’t wake up, and give the address.
  2. Give naloxone. Spray one dose in one nostril. If there is no response in 2–3 minutes, give a second dose.
  3. Support their breathing. Follow the 911 dispatcher’s instructions, or roll them onto their side so they don’t choke.
  4. Stay with them until help arrives. Naloxone can wear off before fentanyl does.

You are protected for calling

Colorado’s Good Samaritan law (C.R.S. 18-1-711) protects a person who reports an overdose in good faith, and the person who overdosed, from prosecution for certain drug offenses, as long as you stay until responders arrive and cooperate. Anyone who gives naloxone in good faith is also protected (C.R.S. 18-1-712). Never let fear stop you from calling.

Get naloxone (Narcan), free

Naloxone reverses an opioid overdose, including fentanyl. It is safe, easy to use, and sold over the counter at pharmacies without a prescription. Keep it at home, in the car and in your child’s backpack.

Fentanyl test strips

Test strips can detect fentanyl in pills, powders and liquids. They are legal in Colorado and available from the Northern Colorado kiosks above.

A negative test does not make a pill safe. Fentanyl is spread unevenly through a counterfeit pill, so one part can test clean while another holds a lethal dose. The only safe pill is one a pharmacist hands you.

Get rid of old pills

Leftover pills in a home medicine cabinet are an easy source for curious teens. Drop unused and expired medications at a Colorado Household Medication Take-Back kiosk, found at many pharmacies and police stations.

Find a take-back location →

Someone to talk to, 24/7

Crisis or thoughts of suicide

988

Call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Free, confidential, any time, for you or someone you’re worried about.

Poison Control

1-800-222-1222

Questions about a pill, a drug or an exposure. Free, confidential help from experts, any time.

Treatment and recovery

1-800-662-4357

SAMHSA’s National Helpline gives free, confidential referrals to treatment and support groups, in English and Spanish.

Search treatment near you at FindTreatment.gov →

If you have lost someone

We understand

Grief after a substance-related death is its own kind of loss. Our family has walked it. Reach out, and we will listen and help you find support.

Print this for your fridge

One page with the overdose signs, what to do, free naloxone and the numbers to call. Share it with other parents, coaches and teachers.

This page shares general safety information and is not medical advice. Phone numbers and programs were checked in November 2026. If something has changed, please let us know.
Effective November 13, 2026

Privacy & accessibility

We are a small, family-run nonprofit. We collect as little about you as we can, we never sell it, and we use it only to answer you, thank you and share our work.

What we collect, and why

  • Contact form: your name, email, optional phone and your message, so we can reply.
  • Newsletter: your name and email, so we can send occasional updates. Every newsletter includes an unsubscribe link, and you can ask us to remove you at any time.
  • Donations: payments are processed by PayPal. We never see or store your card or bank details. PayPal shares your name, email and gift amount with us so we can thank you and give you a record for your taxes. If you give in honor or memory of someone, we keep the name you enter and email the person you choose.
  • Candles: lighting a candle is anonymous. If you add the name of someone you lost, your first name or a few words, our family reads them before they appear on the site, and we can remove them at any time if you ask.
  • Website logs: our web host (GoDaddy) keeps standard server logs, such as IP address and pages requested, for security and to keep the site running.

What we do not do

  • We do not sell, rent or trade your information.
  • We do not use advertising trackers or follow you around the web.
  • We do not set cookies unless you choose Spanish (see below).

Services that help run the site

  • PayPal handles donations under its own privacy policy. Its scripts load only on the Donate page.
  • Google Translate loads only if you choose Español. It sets a cookie named googtrans to remember your choice, and the page text is sent to Google to be translated. Choosing English removes the cookie.
  • YouTube plays the film on our Fentanyl Facts page in privacy-enhanced mode, and only after you press play.
  • GoDaddy hosts the site and delivers its email.
  • MailerLite keeps our newsletter list and sends the newsletter, under its own privacy policy. It receives only the name and email you give us when you sign up.

How long we keep it

Messages and newsletter signups are kept until you ask us to remove them or unsubscribe. Donation records are kept as long as the law requires for nonprofit tax records.

Children

Our information is written for families, including teenagers. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has sent us information, contact us and we will delete it.

Your choices

You can ask what we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, or unsubscribe at any time. Email info@jaydynnslight.org or write to Jaydynn's Light, 2230 80th Ave. Ct., Greeley, CO 80634. Colorado residents have additional rights under the Colorado Privacy Act where it applies.

Changes

If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top of this page.

Accessibility statement

We want everyone to be able to use this site, including people who use screen readers, keyboard navigation, magnification or captions. We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at level AA, and we test the site with automated accessibility checks and by hand.

If anything on this site is hard to use, tell us at info@jaydynnslight.org or +1 757-645-7142. We will fix it, or get you the information another way.

Jaydynn's Light is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, EIN 87-2827898.
← News
November 2026  /  Justice

Justice for Jaydynn

We are one of the few families who get to have closure. It does not bring Jaydynn back — but it helps us know there was some justice.

On July 25, 2021, we lost Jaydynn to one counterfeit pill. She was 16. It was the first and only time she ever tried one, and it was pressed with fentanyl.

For more than four years we waited to learn whether anyone would answer for it. In December 2025, the federal case closed.

Who was held responsible

The FBI investigated alongside the Weld County Drug Task Force, the Greeley Police Department, the Brighton Police Department and the Weld County District Attorney’s Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bradley Giles of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado.

  • Gabriel Orozco pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and distribution of fentanyl. On December 15, 2025, Senior U.S. District Judge John L. Kane sentenced him to 168 months (14 years) in federal prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release.
  • Destiny Salazar pleaded guilty to the same two charges. Judge Kane sentenced her the same day to 144 months (12 years) in federal prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release.
  • Kaleb Hale, Jaydynn’s boyfriend, bought the pills from them on July 24, 2021. He pleaded guilty to distribution of fentanyl to a person under 25. On September 19, 2025, Chief U.S. District Judge Philip A. Brimmer sentenced him to 20 months in federal prison, followed by six years of supervised release.

According to federal prosecutors, Orozco and Salazar sold fentanyl pills through Facebook from at least July through December 2021, advertised as “blues,” “30s” and “percs.” They were selling them the same way any teenager with a phone could find them.

What this means for us

We are one of the few families who get to have closure. Most families who lose a child to fentanyl never learn who sold the pill, and they never see anyone answer for it in a courtroom. We did.

Nothing that happened in that courtroom brings Jaydynn back. No sentence is long enough to equal her life, and we will miss her every day for the rest of ours. But it helps us to know there was some justice: the people who sold that pill were found, they admitted what they did, and they are in federal prison.

We want to thank the FBI, the Weld County Drug Task Force, the Greeley and Brighton police departments, the Weld County District Attorney’s Office, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Bradley Giles, along with everyone who refused to let Jaydynn’s death become one more number.

To every parent reading this: you cannot buy a real pharmaceutical on social media. Not one. Please say that sentence to your child tonight.

Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Colorado, “Three sentenced for distribution of fentanyl that led to the death of a juvenile female,” December 15, 2025.
News and press

Getting her story heard

Documentaries, radio and local reporting on Jaydynn's Light and Colorado's fentanyl crisis.

November 2026  /  Justice

Justice for Jaydynn

The two people who sold the pill that killed Jaydynn were sentenced to 14 and 12 years in federal prison. We are one of the few families who get to have closure. Read our story →
04 March 2024  /  Documentary

Our story to be included in Devastated: Colorado's Fentanyl Disaster

Members of Jaydynn's family will be included in the upcoming documentary about Colorado's fentanyl problem, directed by Steffan Tubbs.
16 August 2023  /  Press

Greeley Tribune article about our annual fundraiser

Morgan McKenzie took the time to write an article about our second annual Light Up fundraiser in Greeley.
26 July 2023  /  Radio

Steffan Tubbs Radio Show interview

Recorded at the two-year mark of losing Jaydynn. Two years since we had seen her.
05 August 2022  /  Radio

Jaydynn's Light on News/Talk 710 KNUS

Jaydynn's mom Katie went on the Steffan Tubbs show to talk about Jaydynn and the foundation. In the second hour her father Brendan called in to explain the purpose of Jaydynn's Light and why parents have to talk to their children about fentanyl — and ask themselves whether trying is worth dying.

Steffan went on to make Devastated: Colorado's Fentanyl Disaster, and has been an advocate for us ever since.
Contact us

Get in touch

Email or write to us, or fill in the form and somebody will get back to you as soon as possible. If you have lost someone, you can write to us about nothing in particular. We will answer.

Thank you

Your message is on its way. Somebody from Jaydynn's Light will be in touch. If it is urgent, call +1 757-645-7142.

Sorry, that did not go through. Please email info@jaydynnslight.org or call +1 757-645-7142.
Mail

2230 80th Ave. Ct.
Greeley, CO 80634

If you are in crisis

We are a grieving family, not a clinical service. If you or somebody near you is in immediate danger, call 911.

For substance use help, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or 1-800-662-4357 (SAMHSA National Helpline, free and confidential, 24/7).

Stay with us

Occasional updates on events, school programs and the fight to get drug awareness back in classrooms. No more than a few a year.

Sorry, that did not go through. Please email info@jaydynnslight.org to join.

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