“My beautiful boy is gone. 16 years old,” Berman posted on Instagram about Samuel Berman Chapman’s death. “Home shelter. A drug dealer who contacted him on Snapchat and gave him fentinyl (sic) with Xanax or Percocet (toxicology will tell) and he gave an overdose in his room. They do it because it’s people even more addicted and good for business but it causes overdose and the children do not know what they are taking. ‘
“My heart is completely shattered and I’m not sure how I should keep breathing,” she added. “I’m just posting it now so that not another child dies. We watched him so closely. Straight a student. Get ready for university. Experimentation went bad. He delivered the drugs at home. Watch your children and “Look at SNAPCHAT in particular. That’s how they get it.”
CNN spoke to Samuel Chapman, Laura’s husband and father, with their three children.
He said their youngest son found Samuel in his room on his back “… and a classic fentanyl death, where … their breathing slows down until their body starts to cramp,” Chapman described.
Samuel had previously experimented with marijuana, Chapman said, and they did him actively under drug testing and he passed the tests.
“There was never a hard drug in our house that we were aware of until this Snapchat merchant met my son online,” he said.
Santa Monica police and paramedics responded to the home Sunday night.
There, they found a minor who was unconscious and unable to breathe, police said, and despite their efforts, the teenager died at the scene.
Police said they believe drug use was used and that the investigation is continuing.
Los Angeles County spokeswoman Sarah Ardalani is investigating the death.
Snapchat spokeswoman Rachel Racusen said in an email to CNN that the company has deep sympathy for the family.
“We are committed to working with law enforcement in this case and in all cases where Snapchat is used for illegal purposes. We have no tolerance for using Snapchat to buy or sell illegal drugs,” Racusen said.
The use of Snapchat for illegal purposes is against the company’s community guidelines and ‘we enforce these violations’, the spokesperson added.
“We are constantly improving our technological capabilities to detect drug-related activities so that we can intervene proactively. If you observe illegal behavior on Snapchat, we use tools in the app to report it quickly and confidentially so that we can act,” Racusen said. “We have no higher priority than keeping Snapchat in a safe environment, and we will continue to invest in protecting our community.”
Chapman remembers his son as a ‘beautiful soul’.
“He had plans and dreams. He was a great student and a great friend to his fellow students,” Chapman said.