The family of an Iowa woman who died of an accidental fentanyl overdose has offered a $50,000 reward to help them catch the dealer who sold her the drugs.
Ciara Gilliam, 22, was discovered dead on her bedroom floor in August after her boyfriend grew concerned he could not get hold of her.
Her employers told her mother and stepfather she had the day off work and when they went to her house to check on her they found her car in the driveway.
“They knocked on the door and knocked on the windows. No one answered,” her father, Robert Gilliam told Fox TV stations.
“Ciara’s bedroom window was unlocked and [her] stepfather climbed through the window and found Ciara deceased on her bedroom floor.”
Investigators found that Ciara had died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl.
“We cannot bring Ciara back. The epidemic in Iowa is out of control,” said Mr Gilliam.
“If we can get one drug dealer off the street, it is our hope that we can save one life.”
The family says that the large cash reward will go to anyone who can provide the name, address, and phone number of the dealer. They will then provide it to the Des Moines Police Department.
“She was our everything. This is leaving a lot of heartache and a huge void in our lives. Ciara called us multiple times a day. We had the best relationship that a mother, father, and daughter could ever have,” he added.
“We hope this serves notice to the drug dealers that there are some of us that will stand up and take action when no one else will.”
Data shows that there were almost 108,000 drug overdose deaths in the US in 2021, with more than 80,000 of those caused by synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl.
