She Got Her Son's Last Belongings From Police. A Bag ‘Presumed to be Fentanyl' Was Inside

A box coming through the mail brought Evelyn Davis her son’s last belongings.

“He was a brilliant, kind soul, a light in our lives. I’m really grateful for the time I had with him,” Davis said.

Kelsy was found in Fort Lauderdale, dead from an accidental overdose of fentanyl and xylazine, a powerful animal sedative.

“I just don’t want this to happen to anybody else because these drugs don’t discriminate. They don’t care,” Davis said while fighting back tears.

Kelsy’s mother and her fiancé live in Summerville, a small town in South Carolina, where they received his last items sent to them by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.

“This was the ring. This was his cellphone, his headphones, his Broward card, homeless card,” Davis said, going through items in the box.

All of those items were listed in a Fort Lauderdale Police report provided by Davis.

There was no mention in the report of what she found inside his wallet, wrapped up in an ATM receipt: a small bag of tan powder.

“It was in this wallet. I opened it up and it fell out.” Davis said. “It was a whole bag full.”

“Clearly, someone didn’t go through his wallet,” Davis said. “Someone did not do their job.”

“This is a first for us in Summerville,” said Capt. Chris Hirsch from the Summerville Police Department.

Fort Lauderdale Police requested Summerville Police to remove the bag from Davis’s home along with what appeared to be two stolen credit cards.

“We obviously took some precautions,” Capt. Hirsch said.

In a report, another Summerville Police officer wrote they were told Fort Lauderdale “mistakenly mailed Evelyn a small bag of narcotics, presumed to be fentanyl.”

Summerville Police sent the powder to the state of South Carolina’s laboratory and still waiting for the official results.

“To get the belongings back from your loved one only to have the police show up to your door again, it’s probably not what they wanted to see. But mistakes happen,” Capt. Hirsch said.

Davis said the mistake put her family at risk.

“My son had just come in, he is seven years old. What if I had dropped it opening the package walking in,” Davis said.

The Fort Lauderdale Police Department didn’t agree to an on-camera interview. In a statement, Chief Patrick Lynn wrote NBC 6, “A standard procedure in a death investigation being conducted by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department includes eventually providing the family members with the decedent’s belongings. Recently, we were made aware that a family member found a small bag of an unknown substance, assumed to be illegal drugs, included with the decedent’s returned property. We immediately made contact with a local police department who responded to the family’s home and retrieved the item which will be tested. We understand this oversight caused undue heartache for this grieving family and for that, we are deeply sorry. As a result of this mistake, we are reviewing our policies and procedures to ensure this does not occur in the future. We also remain in constant contact with the family to keep them informed of the status of our ongoing investigation regarding the death of their loved one.”

“The reason he could not come here is because of the drugs and it makes me furious that two days after his funeral they fell in my lap,” Davis said, “That was pretty heart-wrenching. That was a hard pill to swallow.”

After NBC6 Investigators reached out, Evelyn said the department contacted her to give her information she was waiting on and she received a call from Chief Lynn apologizing. But she said more needs to be done.

“I just feel like it needs to be addressed and things need to be changed so it doesn’t happen again,” Davis said.

So far, Fort Lauderdale Police said no policy change has been made and no employee has been officially disciplined.