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.