As the country grapples with a crippling fentanyl crisis, an announcement Wednesday that prosecutors will not file charges in connection with the deaths of five people who fatally overdosed on the drug in February in a Commerce City apartment was a crushing blow to friends and family who were hoping that someone would pay for their deaths.

“I’m disappointed in the system. There have to be some answers,” said Trace Welch, who worked with three of the victims at a Thornton steakhouse. “They have to have gotten the fentanyl from somewhere.”

At the time, the fatalities in Commerce City were believed to be the largest single fentanyl overdose the Drug Enforcement Administration had investigated. The dead included the parents of a 4-month old baby who was found alive in the home. The couple were identified as Sabas Marquez, 24, and Karina Rodriguez, 28. The infant is in the custody of Rodriguez’s family, according to friends.

Commerce City fentanyl deaths believed to be the most lethal single such event in U.S.

The other victims were Humberto Arroyo-Ledezma, 32, Stephine Monroe, 29, and Jennifer Danielle Cunningham, 32, whose best friend from childhood was astounded to hear the news that there would be no justice for her death. “There will be no healing for her family and friends,” said Ashley Lauterbach. Three of the victims – Cunningham, Rodriguez and Monroe – had worked together at Mickey’s Sirloin.

A sixth overdose victim, Arroyo-Ledezma’s wife, Cora, survived. As the sole survivor of the fentanyl ingestion, she was one of the key witnesses in the case, but it is unknown whether Cora Arroyo was able to provide enough information to prosecute whoever sold the group the poisonous drug.

The deaths of five young people at one residence illustrate the meteoric rise of Colorado’s fentanyl crisis since 2000, when there were five fentanyl overdose deaths in the entire year. Compare that number to 2021, when fentanyl deaths soared to 912, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Those numbers are holding steady for this year. Through the first three quarters of 2022, the state saw 228 overdose deaths involving fentanyl, said Kirk Bol of the Colorado Center for Health and Environmental Data.

“The numbers will continue to increase as registration and processing of these data continues,” Bol said.

Brian Mason, the district attorney for Adams and Broomfield counties, said the five victims died after ingesting what they likely thought was cocaine.

“The evidence that exists today has not and will not lead us to an arrest or the filing of a charged case,” he said. “We will continue to investigate any new leads that may come in.

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“It’s personally disappointing for me. I know that it’s disappointing for our families. We all want to see justice for these five victims,” Mason told reporters. “The case at this point is no longer active, but still open.”

Mason stressed that his office was “not declining to prosecute” but simply lacks the evidence to bring charges against anyone.

“This is a nation of laws,” he said. “I have to follow the laws.”

Mason said an army of investigators including the DEA, the U.S. attorney’s office, the North Metro Drug Task Force and his own office reviewed surveillance video, interviewed witnesses, and utilized DNA and cellphone data that “might lead to the source of the fentanyl that caused these deaths.” But they had to admit that they were unable to gather enough evidence for a prosecutable case.

“If we get more leads, if we get more evidence, if we get more tips, if technology changes and we’re able to evaluate current evidence in a new way, we will do so,” Mason said. “We will follow up again on every single tip and every single lead that we get.”

Colorado’s new, more stringent fentanyl laws were not in place on Feb. 20, when the five victims died in Commerce City. Since July, police and prosecutors have been able to charge people with felonies for possessing more than 1 gram of fentanyl or any substance containing it. The Fentanyl Accountability and Prevention Act, HB 1326, was one of the more contentious measures tacked by state lawmakers during the last legislative session. The bill increased penalties and pumped millions of dollars into overdose prevention and treatment. 

Welch, the friend of three of the victims, hopes that the new regulations will make a difference, but he’s skeptical. “We keep reading about fentanyl in the papers. This is obviously murder,” he said. 

Mourners gather at Colorado Capitol for Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day