Memorial Wall-Romel
Memorial Wall-Romel
Romel a 4.0 college student whose professors said was one of the best and brightest students they had ever had, He was in nursing school but had decided to apply to medical school. Romel left behind his 20-month-old son, a mother, his son's momma, a stepfather, his Papi , his Papi's fiancé, his two sisters, two nephews, a brother-in-law, an abuela, many aunts and uncles, more cousins than you can count, and hundreds of friends.
Romel loved nature from the time he was a toddler. He could sit in a creek all day and look for critters. He started camping and hiking with his family at a young age. He loved to stretch his eno between two trees next to a creek or river and read. He always had a book with him. He loved to learn. He was fluent in Spanish and was learning Russian and Chinese. He loved waterfalls and would hike miles to see a new one. His music taste was very eclectic ranging from Nirvana to Japanese Jazz. He loved hang with his friend and having deep conversations. But his favorite thing to do was to show his son the world. He was a fantastic dada.
On July 28, 2023 his mom found him non responsive in bed. He had taken a pill that had been poisoned with 14.9 ng of fentanyl. He most likely drifted off to sleep and died within a few minutes of consuming the drug And simply forgot to breathe. Ironically, he died with fentanyl test strips on one side and NarCan on the other. It is assumed the test strips failed.
The news of his death stunned and saddened a whole community of people who loved and respected Romel. A group of people that thought this bright, adventurous, popular young man who graduated with honors from high school, took all the AP classes and dual enrollment would be the last person to be murdered by a death dealer who poisoned him with fentanyl.
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But most of his friends and family did not know of his struggles with mental health issues. To everyone around he was that smart, funny, loving, guy that had the world by the tail. They did not see how he struggled with anxiety and depression. He used recreational drugs to self-medicate.
