Instead, it’s lined with a growing stack of sympathy cards, framed posters and signed sports equipment.

The end of January will mark three years since their son, Cayden, didn’t wake up on a morning he should have been getting ready for school. They’d later learn he died from a fentanyl overdose while on a FaceTime call with a friend.

One of his last Google searches, Sean said, was about how to tell whether a pill is real or fake.

Ever since Cayden died, the two have worked with prosecutors and detectives, hoping for accountability. Experts warned them that cases such as their son’s are difficult, and rarely get prosecuted.

But years later, Sean, Afrodita and dozens of Cayden’s friends packed a Harrisonburg, Virginia, federal courtroom, as two people who admitted distributing the fentanyl that killed him were sentenced to over a decade behind bars.

“Everybody else in the courtroom will be getting up on Thursday and celebrating Christmas with family, enjoy this time of being together,” Sean said. “We’re going to go to the cemetery. That’s where we spend holidays and Sundays. That’s the only place we get through the holidays.”

The couple remained involved in the case, navigating evolving circumstances. Eventually, the Drug Enforcement Administration accepted it. Then, there was a leadership change in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia.

Sean, an attorney, built a slideshow outlining recommendations for how to prosecute the case. They collected gigabytes of Snapchat data. They provided statements and spoke in front of the court.

“It’s not the TV drama,” Sean said. “It’s not ‘Law and Order,’ where in 60 minutes you’re going to go front to back and quickly closed, and everything’s tied up neatly and everybody’s done their job. It’s just been exhausting.”

But last week, a federal judge sentenced 24-year-old Liam Conaway to 20 years in a federal prison. Prosecutors said he admitted obtaining the fentanyl-laced pills and selling them to Foster.

Conaway was a student at James Madison University, and prosecutors said Cayden and Conaway had consumed pills together during Conaway’s school break from JMU.

Charging documents said Cayden contacted Conaway to buy pills.

On Jan. 27, 2023, court documents said Cayden sent Conaway $105 on Venmo to pay for the drugs. Conaway bought about 10 pills from Bessy Jimenez Mejia, his supplier, in Harrisonburg.

The pills, documents said, were designed to look like 30 mg Percocet pills but were counterfeit and contained fentanyl.

Then, one of Cayden’s friends delivered three pills to him in Northern Virginia.

Jimenez Mejia was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.

“I don’t think there will ever be closure,” Afrodita said. “But we just have to live with what happened.”

In the years since Cayden’s death, the couple has worked with Virginia state lawmakers and spoken to Northern Virginia students about the dangers of fentanyl. They’re planning to continue that work.

“It was a distraction for us,” Afrodita said. “We still, when we think about it, are shocked by our son’s death. The advocacy was important to us, because from the beginning, we said we don’t want this to happen to another child.”

Many of Cayden’s friends, now in college, have remained in contact with his parents, offering support and companionship.

Afrodita still won’t enter Cayden’s room, and his seat at the table just off the kitchen is marked with a plush pillow.

But with a yearslong investigation and court proceedings behind them, they’re planning to prioritize their grief. Part of that is getting Cayden’s gravestone marker done.

“We were just emotionally not ready for that,” Afrodita said. “It’s one more final thing to do, and we just haven’t been able to do that.”

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“We’d like to spread the word to make sure that our patients are aware of how they should take their medications,” said Dr. Sharika Johnson, a clinical pharmacist at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. “A lot of pharmacists now have the doctor of pharmacy degree, so we are doctors as well.”

Regarding splitting pills, Johnson said it’s OK if a tablet is scored down the middle.

“But, please, stay away from [splitting] any extended release [pills] and capsules. Please, never cut capsules. We don’t want to disturb the coating,” Johnson said.

Splitting extended or delayed release pills removes the certainty that you’ll receive a proper drug dose at appropriate times.

Other :

• Drinking plenty of water when taking pills to make sure they go all the way down. “There are some medications that, if they linger on the esophagus, they could cause some damage,” Johnson said;

• Getting prescriptions filled by the same pharmacy network, if possible, so pharmacists can track what you take to help avoid inappropriate doses or bad drug interactions. “We can also call the prescriber if anything needs to be changed or reviewed,” Johnson said;

• Disposing of old medicine. periodically, but you can do it yourself with this advice: Don’t crush the medicine — mix it with something unpalatable such as dirt, kitty litter or used coffee grounds in a bag or container, then throw it out. Also, make sure to scratch any personal information off the prescription bottle;

• Avoid taking even over-the-counter drugs if they’re expired. It’s bad enough that they might not work to alleviate your symptoms, but if they’re expired antibiotics, an infection might progress enough to land you in the hospital.

“If you have any questions, make sure you reach out for us — it’s what we’re here for,” said Johnson.

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WASHINGTON – There are supplements on the market that help protect joints, bones and hearts. Now there are some that claim to keep hair from going gray.

Forget the drippy dyes. These pills claim to get rid of the problem, as it were, at the root.

They all contain the enzyme catalase that is said to counter-act the hydrogen peroxide produced naturally by the body. It is that peroxide that causes hair to go white, according to theories.

Small companies are making the supplements now, but there may be some big-time competition soon. Cosmetics giant L’Oreal tells that it is working on an anti-gray pill that could be on the market by 2015.

L’Oreal says it is focusing its research on another enzyme called TRP-2, which is found in pigment-producing cells.

Experts in hair disorders at distinguished hospitals and universities are by and large skeptical of claims any enzyme can prevent hair from turning gray.

They say these claims are not supported by science, and its genetics, along with other factors, that determines who goes gray and when.

Âé¶ččÙÍű’s Paula Wolfson contributed to this report. Follow and on Twitter.

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Like many 8th grade adolescents, Acosta says she was self-conscious, uncomfortable with her appearance and filled with angst.

“I was looking for something outside myself to make me feel better, and I accidentally came across some prescription drugs, a bottle of Percocet, in my parents’ medicine cabinet,” she says.

Percocet is a pain medication made with acetaminophen and oxycodone.

It was downhill from there. Caitlin had eight years of drug and alcohol abuse that included Oxycontin (oxycodone) and the anxiety medicine Xanax.

“I couldn’t keep a job. I started to lose my relationship with my family. I didn’t really have any friends. I wasn’t able to do normal things that a 19, 20-year-old girl would do because I was worried about getting high all the time,” Acosta says.

Four years into recovery, the former drug addict has some advice for people about cleaning out their medicine cabinets.

“Get rid of those medications they no longer need,” says Acosta.

Fairfax County holds its 6th annual from May 27 to June 1.

Unwanted and expired medications can be dropped off at six Fairfax County police stations. It’s free and confidential.

Here are the locations:

• Franconia District Station, 6121 Franconia Rd., Alexandria, Va. 22310
• Mason District Station, 6507 Columbia Pike, Annandale, Va. 22003
• Sully District Station, 4900 Stonecroft Blvd., Chantilly, Va. 20151
• West Springfield District Station, 6140 Rolling Rd., Springfield, Va. 22152
• Mount Vernon District Station, 2511 Parkers Lane, Alexandria, Va. 22306
• Reston District Station, 12000 Bowman Towne Drive, Reston, Va. 20190

The , devoted to discouraging drug abuse among young people, says the cabinet clean out helps prevent drug abuse, accidental poisoning and protects the environment by preventing the medications from being flushed into waterways.

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