Hunter Crump’s mom speaks out on the anniversary of son’s fentanyl poisoning
COUPLAND — Last Sunday, a group gathered at the Crump family’s 7-acre property for a balloon release to celebrate what should have been Hunter Crump’s 19th birthday.
“Happy birthday, baby boy,” said his mother Kimberly Crump, as her bouquet of purple and turquoise balloons floated heavenward. “We miss you and love you so much.” On June 14, 2022, just two weeks after graduating from Taylor High School, Crump discovered her son lying on the floor of his room unconscious after consuming just half of a counterfeit pain pill that he didn’t know was laced with the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl.
Hunter died just a few hours later, Crump said.
His death marks a growing and alarming trend of young people with lives ended too soon by a synthetic drug far more powerful than standard opioids.
According to state and federal data, fentanyl is now the No. 1 cause of death among 18 to 45-year-olds in America, and the number of fentanyl-related deaths in Texas has gone from 883 to 1,672 in just one year.
However, Hunter was more than just a statistic to all those who knew him.
“My son broke his back when he was 16 years old,” Crump said. “He was not a drug addict. He didn’t even smoke marijuana. On his toxicology report, all they found were his prescribed meds and then what were in the pills.”
Last week, an Austin man, David Lee Jr. pleaded guilty to distributing counterfeit pain pills laced with fentanyl, one of which caused Hunter’s death, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.
“He is facing 20 years to life in prison,” Crump told the gathering. “So that is one good thing. Let’s all rejoice in the fact that the man who killed my baby is now behind bars and will (likely) never walk the streets again.”
Though Hunter’s life was cut short, he made his mark. He was a hugger with an ever-present smile. He always told his parents he loved them, no matter who was around. He was a “sweet, sweet kid,” and a friend to everyone, who had hoped to become a professional psychologist someday.
“There have been so many people who have told me, ‘Hunter helped me,’” Crump said. “They said, ‘I had problems, but I talked to Hunter, and he helped me come out of my shell.’” Uncle James Johnson, a close friend of Hunter’s, echoed this.
“I just don’t think I ever saw him in a bad mood,” Johnson said. “If you had a problem, he would fix it, or he would get you to smile or something. He always had something funny to say.”
Tim Crow, the communications and community liaison for Taylor Independent School District, also remembered Hunter’s optimism.
“I first met Hunter when he was in the 4th grade, and I was the assistant principal,” Crow recalled. “He was a great student, always with a smile on his face — the kind of student that makes the school a more positive place.”
Crow, who shot photos of Hunter during his graduation, said he carried this positive attitude to the end.
“He was obviously very happy about graduating and ready to begin the next chapter in his life,” Crow said. “What a shock it was a few days later when the high school principal called me to let me know that Hunter had passed away. My heart goes out to his family.”
Hunter was also known for being a hard worker, and he became the youngest apprenticed plumber in Texas at age 16, his mother said.
Ironically, Hunter’s reluctance to call in sick due to his back pain may have contributed to his poisoning.
“He had a really good work ethic,” Crump said. “He didn’t want to miss work, and he knew I would tell him, ‘No.’ Even though he was 18, his mom would still tell him, ‘No’ … and if mama said, ‘No,’ then daddy wasn’t going to let him go. That’s just how it is.”
The statistics for the state’s increasing number of opioid overdose deaths do not even show the full extent of the problem, Crump said.
“The facts are not correct because a lot of the places don’t record them as fentanyl deaths,” she said. “They record them as overdoses, so the numbers are very skewed.”
What’s more, the availability of counterfeit pills laced with the deadly drug has skyrocketed thanks to social media, according to state officials, while recent Drug Enforcement Administration lab tests reveal six out of every 10 fake pills with fentanyl contain a potentially lethal dose.
“One packet of sugar, if that was fentanyl, is almost enough to kill the entire town of Taylor,” Crump said.
Crump said it upsets her that she didn’t know anything about the dangers of fentanyl before her son’s poisoning.
“It wasn’t on the news like it should have been,” Crump said. “It wasn’t talked about like it should have been.”
At first, the enormity of the loss and grief made it too hard for Crump to face people or talk about what had happened. But little by little, she found some measure of healing through interacting online with other parents who have lost children to fentanyl, especially the “Angel Moms Network,” part of the organization Texans Against Fentanyl.
“That’s one of the good things about the Angel Moms,” Crump said. “Even in the middle of the night, if you can’t sleep, you can just get on there and talk to somebody … Every day, there are more and more people.”
Crump has also begun sharing her story publicly alongside TXAF founder Stefanie Turner, whose son Tucker Roe was poisoned by fentanyl in 2021 at age 19 and Becky Stewart, who founded the nonprofit A Change for Cam after losing her own son Cameron Stewart in 2021 to fentanyl at age 19 as well.
“I am trying to follow their lead,” Crump said. “They started this. They are amazing women … and I just want to help anyway I can.”
Recently, Hunter’s photo was included on a billboard along Interstate 35 in Kyle and on the “Faces of Fentanyl” memorial wall at DEA headquarters in Virginia.
Crump said this kind of visibility and speaking out about Hunter’s death makes her feel like her pain has a purpose.
“It gives me comfort just to know that my feelings are valid,” Crump said. “It makes me feel like one day I will be OK again. I mean, I will never be complete, but I will be OK. I still have my kiddos to watch grow up and my grandson. I have to try and have some normalcy again. It’s a new life that we didn’t ask for, but we have to learn to live it the best way that we can.”
