Gwyneth Brown spent nearly three years tracking the people she believes supplied the fentanyl-laced pill that killed her 17-year-old son. On September 9, she stood in a Rowan County courtroom and told a judge what she had found, as Ladarius Dupree Frazier, a 21-year-old known on the street as Draco, faced a bond hearing on fentanyl trafficking charges unrelated to any homicide count.
Brown’s son, Laird Ramirez, died on July 1, 2023, after taking a pressed pill disguised as a Percocet at his best friend’s house in Huntersville, according to the Charlotte Observer. The fake Percocets, laced with fentanyl, had reportedly been sold for as little as $7 inside Hough High School, part of a pattern the paper’s investigation found: fentanyl pills disguised as prescription painkillers circulating through Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, killing some teens and sending others to rehab. More than 100 people gathered for Ramirez’s celebration of life on July 15, 2023, in Huntersville, the Observer reported.
Frazier was arrested in late August 2026 and accused of possessing 45.5 grams of fentanyl along with drug paraphernalia in Rowan County. Since officials warn that as little as two milligrams of fentanyl can be fatal, the Observer calculated that the amount Frazier allegedly had was enough to kill more than 20,000 people. His defense attorney, Evan Hiatt, asked Judge Chris G. Sease to lower Frazier’s bond from $300,000 to $100,000, arguing Frazier did not know the packages found in his house contained fentanyl and had not, to Hiatt’s knowledge, previously been charged with a drug offense. Hiatt also said Frazier was never charged in connection with Ramirez’s death.
A Mother’s Own Investigation Reaches the Courtroom
Brown testified that communications she had gathered showed Frazier knew fentanyl was present in the drug supply and was aware of the potential consequences, yet indifferent to whether someone died, according to the Observer. She asked the Rowan County District Attorney’s Office to investigate those communications and asked Judge Sease to weigh them when deciding bond. Frazier’s family declined to comment on the charges or on Brown’s statement in court…