Im lester holt and this is dateline. Here is kate snow with one small dose. These teens found out the hard way. Its made to seem like youre not going to see it in your life kind of drug. Theyre called synthetic drugs, cheap, dangerous, easy to get and often marketed specifically to young people. Something that deadly in this small of a dose had entered our high school. Not just our community but our kids. You may not have heard of them, but Law Enforcement agencies across the country have and they are sounding the alarm. It is a gamble. Every time i kid gets ahold of one of these things, theyre gambling. Theyre gambling with their lives. No better way to understand that lifethreatening gamble than the story of 17yearold Tara Fitzgerald. Oh, my god, her lips are blue and i dont i dont feel a pulse. I dont feel a pulse. Its a story no parent wants to hear. But this mom and dad feel compelled to share. It seemed surreal, unbelievable. Unimaginable. Tara fitzgerald was no typical teenager. At least thats what her closest friends say. She looked at the world so much deeper and with so much more meaning than anyone that i have met. Most people were worried about prom dresses and she was worried about what kind of thing . Very philosophical. She wanted to know how the world works and how the universe works and how god works. I consider her an old soul. Such an old soul. Yeah. But tara also had a lighter, more carefree side. Quirky was the key word when it comes to tara. She had a different kind of sense of humor. She knew how to make everyone laugh. She liked to make faces and her and her friends would act goofy sometimes and they enjoyed that. She lived with her parents, tom and mai and her little sister in the quiet suburban city of woodbury, minnesota, not far from the twin cities. Tara was an energetic kid from a very young age. According to her dad, she was a bit of a dare devil. She liked the tubing on the back of the boat. Yeah. She would be a dare devil on that. She liked going and taking risks and stuff. But her family and friends agree, taras greatest passions were drawing and music. She had a pretty decent size basement. So she would play music down there a lot. She and i would go down there and jam. I just did it. I just did it. She was playing guitar a lot. She was getting into music. A lot of the classic 70s stuff, beatles, lynn lynard skynard. Yet none of that got in the way of school. Her mother said she was an honor student who loved to learn. She would read books, four, five books at once and she would sit at dinner and, you know, reading book at the same time. You would have to tell her to take the book away . Yeah, but how can you yell at a kid when they read a book . Yeah. Smart kid, tom . Smart kid. Science came easily to her. She aced her a. C. T. College admissions exam, tara was over the moon. She liked to rub it in. Im pretty sure she texted me in all capital letters throughout our conversation. Oh, my gosh, look what i got. I didnt even study. It was january 10th, 2014. To celebrate her score and good grades, tara asked if she could have a friday night sleepover. At that time, i was so happy. I cant turn her down. I say sure. And the girl that came over was somebody you knew . We didnt know her as well as her close core of girlfriends but tara knew her pretty well. They would just sit there, watch scary movies or whatever, chat and talk. Eat junk food. It made me very secure knowing they were in the lower level of our home, hack hanging out together where they had some space from us yet theyre safe. But there was something some of tearys friends knew that her parents didnt. Tara was planning to experiment that night with lsd. The main purpose of having the sleepover was to try it, to try the drug. To try lsd . Uhhuh. Taras friends say their group, including tara, didnt usually drink or do drugs. As far as like going to parties and drugs and alcohol, it wasnt really something that was like her. But still, this was high school and they werent exactly shocked that tara wanted to try something illegal. I told her thats a stupid idea. And left it at that . Yeah, and she didnt really want to be talked out of it. I think everyone kind of knew it was a bucket list type thing for her. She was really into the sbaelts they obviously talk about that kind of thing in their songs. That weekend started like so many for teenagers. Taras friend came over for their friday night sleepover. And the two girls spent the night doing their own thing in the basement. I could hear the girls down there laughing but i didnt want to go down there and talk to them. Invade their privacy . The next morning, tom and mai let the girls sleep in and quietly left the house for a basketball game with taras little sister. They assumed everything was fine at the house until they got a frantic call. It was the mother of the friend who had slept over. She called and said she was at our house and that they couldnt wake tara up. They couldnt wake her up . Right. And then she said something about, i think shes shes taken some drug or something. And i was like, what . You cant wake her up . I said call 911. I immediately got off the phone and grabbed mai, and we shot out the door to go for home. Drugs . They couldnt fathom it. Taras parents, as well as their whole community, were about to get an unwelcomed education. I never would have thought that she would take anything. No. Never in a million years. What exactly had happened to tara . Investigators were about to uncover some disturbing clues. We know from their phones that this was a planned event. They had discussed it. They took pictures. When we come back, what those pictures reveal. The sun rose on a cold midwestern morning, and tom and Mai Fitzgerald were facing the worst moment of their lives. What in the world happened . How could this be . It just seemed like a complete nightmare. They were at an Early Morning basketball game with their youngest child when they got a terrifying phone call from a fellow parent, who was at their home. She said their 17yearold daughter tara was lying unresponsive in the basement. Tom told her to call 911. Oh, my god. Her lips are blue. And i dont i dont feel a pulse. I dont feel a pulse. You dont feel a pulse . Correct. Okay. Try to shake her and shout, are you okay . Does she respond . Tara, are you okay . Are you all right, tara . Are you okay, sweetie . Nothing. Are you okay . Tom and mai raced home to find their house surrounded. Just a lot of cop cars and ambulance. I was praying. And the paramedics were working on her, trying to get her to breathe. I talked to her. Just saying, please, tara. You know. Come back. And trying to encourage her. They put her in the ambulance, took her to the hospital. Then i went mai was just inconsolable, so i had to just leave. I went by myself and i drove to the hospital. I was in there with her and the doctors. Doctors worked tirelessly for almost half an hour to save tara, and then they had to stop. Then they just told me that it wasnt going to happen, so they were going to stop their efforts. Yeah. I dont know. I was in shock, you know, i just went and laid on her and cried. It seemed surreal. Unbelievable. That this had happened. You hear terrible story on tv, you hear all this tragedy, but you never thought that it could happen to your kid. No, not in a million years. You never think that would happen. And so when it happens, you dont believe it. No. Taras friends knew she was planning to take lsd that night, but it never occur to them that she could die. She assured me its not dangerous. I didnt know anything about it, so i assumed she must be doing her research on it. Mai called them to break the news. She was really hysterical. She was saying, erin, your best friend died. She kept yelling that over and over. My god. What did you do . I was so shocked. It was so hard to process what that meant. My First Response was, are you kidding . Because it didnt feel real yet. But then it was like everything kind of hit at once and it was just everything just fell apart. Investigators were surprised, too, but by Something Else. Commander Brian Mueller is the head of the local Drug Task Force. When he heard tara overdosed on lsd, it just didnt add up. We dont see that with lsdrelated drugs. Lsd, also known as acid, was created by a Research Chemist back in the 30s and has been studied for decades. Much is known about its effects. And in muellers experience, he knows lsd can trigger deadly behavior. Somebody jumps out a window or acts out because of the lsd . Absolutely. Yeah. Injures themselves or gets in a fight or, yeah, jumps out a window. But the drug itself is not usually deadly. An lsd overdose typically isnt going to happen in our experience. And so our concern at that time is immediately what was ingested, you know, was that the cause of her death and is there any more out there . Even taras griefstricken father was perplexed. When i heard acid, i thought i have never heard about anybody overdosing from acid. So it seemed really peculiar. I mean, this is some of the things that were running through my mind. And another question, if tara and her friend both took the drugs, why did one girl live and the other die . Michelle frascone was the lead detective. How do you explain that . Terrifying. I mean, that is something we had to look at. Why do we have one thats able to communicate with us a few hours later sitting in an Interview Room and we have one thats going to autopsy . Our first thing was to talk to the friend who provided us quite a bit of information from that evening. At least a decent timeline. We did phone forensics immediately. What did that tell you what happened after midnight . We know from their phones that this was a planned event. They had discussed it. They took pictures. This is a photo of tara taken just moments after she took the drug, and thats what an actual lsd tab looks like. It was unclear to detectives whether those are two tabs or one tab that came apart. The reason they had selected the night of the 10th was because taras parents were going to be gone in the morning for a sporting event for her sister, so this was going to give them time to recover. Tara and her friend had planned it all out, even arranging to have another friend on standby to call in case something went wrong. And as teenagers do, they had their phones out taking photos and videos. This is some of the video taken that night. The video showed investigators how the night went from a fun, giggly high how do you feel, tara . I dont know. To this. Tara lying unresponsive on the basement floor. She was in serious trouble, but her friend never woke taras parents who were right upstairs, and she never called 911. But she did call the friend who had agreed to help in an emergency, and she sped right over. It sounds like she comes in through a window. Somethings not right with tara. Shes not communicating anymore. Shes not talking to them. And this person who comes says i sit with her on the floor, i rub her hair, i just hope its all going to go away. Does she stay . She stays for a bit of time, then ultimately says the reason for leaving is, one, she had to get the car home, but secondly, she just it was too freaky. Too freaky . Yeah, didnt want to have to deal with it. The friend sleeping over wrote this heartbreaking note towards the end of the night. Dear tara, this is the worst night of our life and it still isnt over. Love, a friend. How did the friend explain not calling for help . What do they say to you . They simply say they didnt want the get in trouble, they didnt want their parents to get upset and disappointed. These were a honor roll students. And thought they could wait it out . Right. Because the teenagers didnt think it was all that dangerous let alone deadly. She must have read somewhere that you cant overdose on genuine lsd. And the police were thinking along those same lines. It couldnt have been lsd. Tara had to have taken Something Else. We have to figure out where it came from, what it is. Is it illegal . Woodbury police now had a mystery to solve and a deadly drug to track down. Coming up investigators also want to find out who gave tara the drug that killed her. Now they and her family are in for a huge surprise. I was like what the are you kidding me . What is going on here . How can this be . When dateline continues. The woodbury, minnesota, Police Department was trying to find out how one small dose of a drug killed 17yearold Tara Fitzgerald. Tara thought she was taking lsd but the local Drug Task Force team suspected shed taken Something Else. Were pretty sure its some type of synthetic drug, either that weve heard about or dont know about. A synthetic drug . Yes. The term synthetic drugs refers to a new class of narcotics developed in just the last seven years. They are made from chemicals that can be unpredictable and are sometimes sold masquerading as other betterknown drugs. Taras case was the First Time Police in this suburb were dealing with a synthetic drug death. And taras friends say they knew little, if anything, about this new class of drugs. I know in our health class, which all High Schoolers are required to take, they do speak of synthetic drugs. But it is kind of made out to seem like one of those youre not really going to see it in your life kind of drugs. Are there lots of drugs in the high school . It was casual to hear about marijuana and alcohol in our grade or in our high school. But then you get up into the higher, more dangerous drugs, we wouldnt hear really hear about that. So at parties would people be theyd be smoking pot, right . Yeah. Drinking . Uhhuh. Anything more than that . No. If people were going to do anything more than that it usually would have been something that was a little bit more private. We were absolutely terrified. Our biggest fear as a Police Department and as a community, is that something this deadly in this small of a dose had entered our high school, not just our community, but our kids. Investigators First Priority was locating the drugs and getting them off the street. That meant finding the person who sold them to tara. A search through her Text Messages pointed to one name. So youre able right away to figure out, heres the person that gave it to tara . Heres the person, yep. And who was that . Brian norlander. And who was he . Brian was completely unknown to us. Brian was a high school junior, honors student, Football Player and a close of friend of taras. Never been in trouble before . Never been in trouble. Never been in trouble before. Yet somehow, brian was mixed up in a drug deal. Text messages told police hed sold tara the tabs for ten dollars each. So, you need to find brian right away . We need to find brian. It was saturday afternoon, just hours after tara died. And her friends were gathered at her home. I remember walking in and seeing mai on the couch and hearing her scream. And the atmosphere was just tense and everyone was absolutely heartbroken. Two of taras friends knew that brian sold her the drug and texted him to meet, but they didnt know police were looking for him, too. He lived by tara. So me and erin walked and he drove and we met up with him on the street and just went into his car to tell him what had happened. So you guys are walking from up there, right . Uhhuh. And brian is driving a car . Brian drove up to here. And we were walking from that way. Sitting in the car, they told brian what happened. I mean, he had to deal with losing his friend on top of thinking i gave her that drug. So i think it was so much for him to take in all at once. So we just kind of all sat in silence. But the silence was broken when a car pulled up and someone approached the window. It was the police. What happened . Tells brian to get out of the car . Tells brian to get out of the car. So then we all stepped out of the car. Another officer asked jessie and i to put our hands in the back of the car. They took our information and took our phones because everything your cell phones . Yeah. So youre watching brian be handcuffed . Yeah. Down at the station, brian admitted right away that he had supplied the drugs to tara. And he was clearly distraught. I didnt want to kill her. You didnt want to kill her . No was brian a drug user, a drug dealer . Was this something he did regularly . Not that we believe. Brian said the drug deal was a onetime thing. Something hed done as a favor for his friend tara. Do you know what kind of drug it was . Yep. What was it . Lsd. Okay. And is it actually lsd, as far as you know, or is it Something Else . Im fairly positive it is. Okay. Brian was reluctant to say where he got it, but eventually he gave police a name. Who is Alistair Berg . A friend of mine. Officers went right out to find him. They questioned alistair at his home where he confessed to selling brian the drugs, but said he was no drug dealer either. He said he bought the drugs from yet another Woodbury High School student, Sydney Johnson. This is becoming even more concerning for Law Enforcement because we have not made it out of the high school yet. Who are these kids that were talking about . Theyre good kids. Theyve never been in trouble with the law. Theyve never been in trouble at school. For the majority of them, straight a honors society, honor roll kids. And now they were all in serious trouble. Taras parents were stunned when they heard where the Police Investigation was going. I was like, what the are you kidding me . Brian norlander was the one that gave this to her . How what is going on here . How can this be . Your whole world is being turned upside down. Shaken . Turned upside down completely. He would be the last person in the world that i wouldve imagined that she wouldve gotten something from. Responsible kid . Very responsible, very good influence. And he is smart kid. It was that third student from the high school, Sydney Johnson who gave police the next important piece of information. A first name and cell phone number of a local dealer. He had a girlfriend who went to woodbury high. Cole is the lead weve been waiting for. We have an adult. We have a drug dealer. We have the connection to the high school. We have the statements up to cole. The next day, 18yearold Cole Matenaer was arrested with more than 30 doses of the same drug tara took ready to be sold. So hes got more of this stuff, hes peddling it, hes selling it. Not only does he have more of the stuff, he has more of the stuff knowing that someone has already died in our community. Detectives later sat down with cole and his attorney, and cole confirmed what authorities already suspected. He was lying to his clients, telling them the drugs were lsd because he knew they wouldnt want synthetics. Because people dont like that stuff. They think its they know its bad, you know . Police were about to find out exactly what killed Tara Fitzgerald and discover that it was a problem that went way beyond their quiet suburb. Coming up many synthetic drugs are packaged to seem completely harmless. But theyre not regulated, theyre not consistent, theyre not safe. What exactly is this stuff . After weeks of speculation, Woodbury Police finally confirmed that the drug 17yearold Tara Fitzgerald had taken was really a deadly synthetic drug. People are generally just purporting it to be acid . Yeah. I need acid, i go buy acid. Cole matenaer was the local dealer who supplied the drugs to students at woodbury high. He admitted to police the tabs he was selling as lsd were really a synthetic drug called 25i. Because people dont like that stuff. They think its they know its bad, you know . But you know its 25i. Yeah. Had you ever heard of it before . Never. We had never dealt with it before. 25i is a new chemical that was only made illegal in the u. S. Two months before tara died. It can cause hallucinations, like lsd. But in taras case it also led to seizures, respiratory distress and ultimately cardiac arrest. It sometimes goes by the street name, nbomb or smiles. And detectives were about to show us the doses theyd seized in taras case. This is the size of that. Wait. Thats thats the drug on that little tiny ping piece of paper . Its smaller than my pinkie fingernail. Typically packaged in tiny pieces of tinfoil it almost looks like trash. But inside, the drugs are so potent, investigators have to handle them with gloves. The reason that detective frascone and i are wearing gloves is if you touch that you could absorb that and become the drug could affect you simply by absorption. And when you take a closer look, its easy to see how some tabs could be stronger than others. Theres no way of knowing the amount of drug on this tab here, and this individual tab here. They all look different. How would anybody know what theyre getting . That is the biggest problem and our biggest concern is that this whole process is so unscientific. Its a problem thats become a National Concern as well. Across the country, the Drug Enforcement administration has seen an increased number of cases involving synthetic drug sales, overdoses and deaths. We paid a visit to a nondescript building thats under intense security. Its the deas research and testing lab where we met with supervisory chemist jill head. Are we still in the midst of a growing epidemic when it comes to synthetics . I would say that we are. This dea lab has analyzed and identified more than 400 different types of synthetic drugs seized in the u. S. Most of these chemicals have one thing in common, theyve been manufactured for the sole purpose of creating a cheap recreational high. This one is the base chemical that tara ingested. In this vial is 25i. Is it just a powder . It is a powder. When dissolved into a liquid, the 25i is soaked or eyedropped on to perforated paper to create doses that look like lsd tabs. It looks very similar to lsd. Its dosed in levels that are very similar to lsd. Is it chemically like lsd . It is not chemically like lsd. A drop of 25i is far stronger than a drop of lsd. And if you apply too much, a single dose can be fatal. Its like russian roulette. You dont know until its too late. You dont know whats in it or what effect its going to have, and it really just takes one time to have very serious effects. These new chemicals are turned into drugs that come in all different forms powders, pills, crystals, even liquids. Some are sold by dealers. But theres another, even easier way that kids get their hands on synthetic drugs. Many are sold in stores or head shops in packages like these, designed to make them look harmless. Says, does not contain any deabanned substances. Statements like these are very misleading. Even though theyre in flashy packages theyre not regulated. Theyre not consistent. Theyre not safe. Theyre not tested. The dea has even found problems with whats sometimes called synthetic marijuana. It looks like pot and is sometimes sold in head shops, but it is nothing like the marijuana thats been legalized in some states. The plant material has been coated or sprayed with a synthetic drug, making it much more potent and potentially deadly. This is a combination of plant material that has been dosed with a drug. And somebody would roll that and smoke it . Correct, right. But one of the scariest things about all these synthetic drugs is where theyre coming from and how difficult it is to stop the flow into the united states. How easy is it for someone here in america to buy these chemicals . Too easy, extremely easy. A couple clicks and its on its way. Coming up synthetic drugs, alltoo tempting to kids. Why dealers love them, too. You make about a 1500 or so investment in these chemicals, you can probably make about a quarter of a Million Dollars on the street. Thats a huge return on investment. Its a big markup. When dateline continues. It only takes one genius to change a light bulbyou led bulbs use 85 less energy and last a long time, saving you up to 100 over each bulbs lifetime. So change yours today. While local officials were chasing down the source of a deadly synthetic drug in this town near minneapolis, the Drug Enforcement administration has been doing the same on a national level. Youre talking about a multimillion dollar industry in the united states. Chuck rosenberg is the administrator in charge of the dea. Youre talking about an industry thats killing our kids. The dea says the synthetic drug problem in the u. S. Originates far outside our borders. The chemicals come from abroad. Often its processed or assembled and packaged here. But the chemicals are coming from overseas. Are most of these chemicals coming from china . Is that fair to say . Most of its coming from china. In china, for the most part, its been perfectly legal to manufacture and sell most synthetic chemicals. In fact, over the last seven years, the china pipeline, as its called, has made so many of these chemical compounds, its created a whole new world of drug dealing. A world where drugmakers and dealers rarely meet and where drug buys take place online. How easy is it for someone here in america to buy these chemicals . Too easy. Extremely easy. Somebody sits down at their keyboard, orders it over the internet, and it shows up in a package. Theyre reasonably savvy in the way they package it and you can only imagine how many packages are transiting our borders every single day. Youre talking about millions and millions and millions of packages. Finding the one with the bad stuff in it, thats hard to do. But finding a website thats willing to sell and ship these chemicals straight to your doorstep, thats pretty easy. My producer found several websites where you can pretty easily buy and import a kilo, which is a few pounds, right . 2. 2 pounds. 2. 2 pounds. So if she can do it, can anyone do it . Well, she cant do it legally. But yes. She can do it. Anyone can do it. We didnt, by the way. Oh, im glad to hear that. I would prefer that you not. This is video shot inside an actual lab in china where synethetic drugs are manufactured. And for those willing to break the law and have them shipped to the u. S. , dealing synthetic drugs can be easier and cheaper than dealing drugs like meth and lsd. The base chemicals are sold ready made. No chemistry experience required. A relatively small investment can reap enormous profits. Only a tiny amount of the chemical is needed for one dose, so a kilo goes a long way. Somebody who knows this business can turn that into 6,500 or so foil packets for resale. If you make about a 1,500 or so investment in these chemicals, you can probably make about a quarter of a Million Dollars on the street. Thats a huge return on investment. Its a big markup. Theyre in it to make money. And they dont care whose life they take. It is a gamble every time a kid gets hold of one of these things, theyre gambling. Except theyre gambling with their life. Because its so inconsistent . Absolutely, right. You and i could go buy the same thing on the same day in the same place and nothing happens to you and i end up dead. That was apparently what happened in taras case. The tabs she and her friend took were haphazardly made. And only tara ended up with a deadly dose. She had this high level of this drug, 25i. Had you ever heard of never heard of it. And im sure tara hadnt either, you know. They thought they were taking something completely different than what they were. What did you know about synthetic drugs before this . Nothing. And the trafficking of synthetics can be tough to prosecute because as soon as the federal government deems one chemical compound illegal, foreign labs alter its molecular structure producing a similar version thats not officially banned. The formulas are being tweaked all the time. And thats a problem. Sort of like a whack a mole where you whack one and then Something Else pops up . Its not a bad analogy. In taras case, detectives had identified four local people, three High School Students and a dealer who were involved in the drug sales that lead to her death. And after months of digging, they finally found the main supplier. 19yearold alexander clausen. He was caught with more than 300 doses of 25i. Alex, you have a right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. The drugs were seized and the entire distribution chain involved in taras death was finally shut down. Just one final question loomed. What would happen to taras classmates, the kids who expected to be going off to college soon, not prison . Religiously, i want to forgive everybody. But as a parent, let me tell you, its harder. Its very hard. Coming up the stakes are about to go up. Taras classmates may be charged with no less than homicide. If you sell a substance that leads to death, youre guilty of murder. What will that mean for taras parents . Is it justice . Sleep number beds adjust on both sides for your best sleep ever. Only at a sleep number store. Right now our most popular mattress starts at 1599. 99. Hurry, ends soon learn more at sleepnumber. Com. Know better sleep. Tara fitzgeralds friends and family had gotten a lesson they never asked for, one that came too late to save tara from a synthetic drug overdose. Were not taught how dangerous it really is and how unstable the chemicals can be. The kids dont know how deadly these drugs are. Theres not enough information thats being pushed out to the public. You hear a lot about things like heroin and cocaine and meth. But Something Like these synthetics is far deadlier in tiny dosage. Prosecutors handling the first synthetic drug death in woodbury now had five defendants, including three High School Students. The two adults, who knew they were selling 25i and profited from the drugs, were charged not with drug sales but with murder. Why homicide . In minnesota, theres murder in the third degree. Its a pretty open statute that says if you sell a substance, a schedule one or two substance, that leads to the death, youre guilty of murder. Both adults pleaded guilty to third degree murder. The main supplier, alexander clausen, was sentenced to six years in prison while Cole Matenaer got a year in county jail and 15 years probation. Yet, when it came to prosecuting the three students, there were more difficult decisions to be made. These teenagers had never been in trouble before and seemed to have promising futures. But like the adults, they too were facing murder charges. County attorney pete orput. I dont want to scare kids. Bullies scare people. I just let them know if you do this, you can expect justice. And were pretty firm about it. So when investigators said they were going to throw the book at these kids . Yeah, i was for it. You were for it . I was for it, yes, absolutely. Yeah, they make mistakes. So from that aspect of it, i can understand both sides. But the overpowering part of it is that i am taras dad, and they made a mistake that killed my daughter. They have to take responsibility for that. But it never came to that. Inside the county attorneys office, negotiations got underway and all three teens reached plea agreements. They pleaded guilty to drug sale charges in Juvenile Court and were sentenced to a combination of parole, fines and one weekend a month in a detention facility. You end up negotiating a pretty creative deal for the three High School Students. I think so. Why did you do that . Because we try to be fair. They werent the ones making money distributing it. This seemed like a onetime deal. I dont want them to suffer, but they need to have some guilt about what they did. It cant be free. Mai and tom were disappointed with the more lenient plea deals the teens negotiated. Is it justice . No, not by a long shot for me. No, its not. Taras parents would say it wasnt enough. We were not flip about it. We put a good deal of time into going, are we being too tough . Are we being tough enough . But im convinced they were fair resolutions in the end. Tom went to all five sentencing hearings and looked each defendant in the eye. I wanted to read a statement to them and show them what this loss has meant to the family. This is who tara was and what she meant to us. She meant everything, everything to us along with her younger sister. Without her, a piece of our soul is gone. It was heart wrenching to hear him talk about his daughter that he doesnt get to see any more. It was really difficult to watch him and see all the emotion. Since taras death and with the publicity surrounding her case, Woodbury Police have not seen another synthetic drug overdose. I think its definitely caused a deterrent. Were not seeing it in the High School Like we were with this case. On the national level, the dea increased efforts to shut down synthetic drug rings. In just the last three years, operation project synergy has seized almost 50,000 pounds of synthetic drugs and made more than 400 arrests. Did we get it all . Of course not. That would be a very difficult thing to do. But we got a bunch of it. And we got some stuff off the streets. And i presume that we, in the process, saved some lives. And last october, after years of international pressure, china made it illegal to manufacture and sell more than 100 synthetic drug chemicals, including 25i. That was a great step. Is it enough . No, its not enough. We need to do a lot more. Them, us, everybody. And at home, detective frascone suggests parents start respecting their kids privacy a little less and start snooping around a lot more. Go through their stuff. Search their stuff. Thats hard, though. What about their privacy . Theyre teenagers. And there is an element of privacy with teenagers. However, you dont want me showing up at your door. If the difference is an upset kid and you know what theyre doing or them being in a casket, i guess id choose the upset kid. I wish i wouldve gone downstairs because i would have probably detected something off with those girls. But i didnt because i didnt want to infringe on their space. Tom and mais greatest hope is that other parents will learn from their loss and become more aware of the risks. We all feel immune to drugs because our kids are better than that, they know better. Theyre not going to do this. Theyre going to be smarter, and its not going to happen to us. Taras friends are in college now and think of her often. They hope, with the investigation behind them, people will remember tara not just for the way she died but as they do. I want people to remember how spunky she was. She was a rare gem, to have as a friend. And we were lucky to have been with her. I want people to know that she was smart and she had a future. And she just happened to make one bad decision. Thats all for now. Im lester holt. Thanks for joining us. Next at 11 00, about a thousand acres of burn and it continues to grow. Were live on the fire lines. Also, trump versus clinton. Round one of the hotly anticipated debate. I have a feeling by the end of this evening im going to be blamed for everything thats ever happened. The president ial showdown, as expected delivered plenty of punch and drama, but did it deliver the votes for either candidate . And hundreds evacuated because of this. A fire burning in the santa cruz mountains. They continue to aggressively battle those flames. The news at 11 00 starts right