Who killed Lexi Evanson? A woman's life lost too soon to Seattle's drug crisis

She meant something to me look you're on TV She meant something to a lot of people She was also a desperate drug addict and then people walk by you And of course when you're not trying to do it, they say here you want some heroin. It's free for years She took us into her world told us about her dance with death. I don't like stealing. I'm not a good thief either And the downward spiral she'd fallen into Everybody thinks that somebody can just go to a shelter and why don't you go to shelter? Now she's gone. And once again, we ask who's to blame Maybe the better question is who isn't to blame? But I'll get back up there Just two weeks into the new year and 20 people have already died from Fentanyl overdoses in King County. This follows a record number of deadly overdoses and homeless deaths last year Each of those deaths represents a person with a story but few if any of those stories ever showed up on TV Appeared in the local newspaper or went viral online We're about to tell you one of those stories about a woman who became snared in a vicious trap And before you ask, why should I care we implore you to look her face listen to her voice What if her story was part of your story? What if it was personal to you this story Lexi's story is a Seattle tragedy and it's personal to me Right before Christmas early in the morning police were called to one of the most notorious homeless encampments in Seattle in Ballard a violent place full of sick desperate people a Man had spotted his car which had been stolen from him when he approached it There was a body inside pitched upside down with its head down by the brake pedal Her name was Lexi Evanson. She was 35 years old I met up with Lexi in 2015. Her eyes were tired her hands her feet every part of her told a story She was a heroin addict By That time she'd already been on the streets for several years How old are you now 27 now 27 yeah, you seem older than 27 to me. Yeah, I think I've experienced enough life and death for three or four lifetimes She told me about the two loves of her life a pitbull named Lucy who was stolen from her and heroin there was just one day in Chicago or Boyfriend broke up with me and I hated life and I wanted it to end and I was just buzzed enough and my friend was I here to try some of this and and I was hoping honestly, I was hoping that I'd just OD and And my first time doing heroin, I just didn't want to feel anything and I wanted to die and instead I fell back and saw hearts and stars and Don't love and I knew I screwed from then on You say you fell in love. Yeah, it was my new boyfriend. I didn't date anybody after that I didn't care about anybody else or anything Lexi's family watched helplessly as she slipped into addiction and homelessness. I know Because I'm part of that family. That's Lexi dancing at my wedding Lexi is my first cousin's granddaughter. She was adorable The first time I interviewed her. She was just a child Hey Alex Look, you're on TV Yes. Yes, you are. Tell me about this book. You're looking at here You're looking at what who's Bambi Huh As a teenager Lexi couldn't get along at home So she left for Portland and moved in with her grandmother one thing led to another and drugs took over everything She lived a rough messy life with rough messy people one night. I followed her around in the streets of Seattle She ran into a friend a guy named Don Trell who told her about another friend No Text text text little Oh How'd that happen overdose It's no shock Kind of numb to my friends dying now every time I get on Facebook. It's another one gone Kind of stopped crying after a while How many friends of yours do you think? No way I could count no way Every year there's at least 20 The next time I saw her six months later. She told me that Don Trell was dead, too And she introduced me to a guy named Richie who spoke heartbreakingly about his addiction Last few times I called my dad One of the things that he said each time it It absolutely killed me inside, you know, and I cried after when I got the phone You know, he said that I'm fearing that call You know Let it happen, you know called it that you're dead. Yeah a week later Richie overdosed and died and so it was for Lexi and the people she knew and the world she was a part of Lexi did her best to try to make people understand the trap that she had fallen into she was honest and brave She was on and off opiate blockers. She was in and out of housing There was counseling and addiction specialists, but the drugs were too strong they almost always are Eventually, she switched from heroin to fentanyl because it was cheaper and so plentiful in Seattle and through it all She stubbornly clung to her dreams. I Still want to be a chef. I still consider myself a cook I miss cooking. It was part of my therapy Can it happen or is there a part of you that's given up no, I can't can't ever give up Then I'll just be like the rest and I don't see myself like them On December 19th. She tried to check herself into a hospital She had a bad earache and a migraine They gave her a prescription for eardrops and sent her away in the early hours of December 21st. She called her grandmother She was in pain distraught Incoherent her grandmother asked where she was Lexi couldn't say Hours later. She was dead If an ear infection spreads to the brain it can cause meningitis The medical examiner concluded that Lexi died of acute bacterial meningitis So who killed Lexi Evanson? Well, she did it to herself didn't she nobody made her become a drug addict Lexi did it a slow suicide But there were accomplices the drug dealers who hunt on the streets preying on the weak and the desperate They killed Lexi the city of Seattle killed her too because of its own addiction to a twisted form of compassion and tolerance Seattle makes it easy to live like an animal and die on the streets The state of Washington has blood on its hands too and the United States of America for that matter By not creating mechanisms to pluck people like Lexi out of their hellish existence give them a fighting chance All levels of governance are guilty The truth is all of us built this machine this cult of indifference We watched her dying for years she and thousands of others without demanding something different. We're all complicit It's good to see you take care of yourself all right Maybe her body finally gave out inside the car and she somehow slumped down headfirst to the floor Maybe she was with someone when she died and that someone didn't know what to do. So they dumped her into the stolen car Who knows? Her name was Lexi Evanson She was a beautiful child who became a mixed-up kid who left home and was eaten alive by the world She started dying a long time ago and everyone just stood around watching I remember Eric when you found out that Lexi had passed and he told me and you were Shocked and yet not surprised. No, I think It's a miracle. She lasted this long And I think the family has sort of Been waiting for that day for years. I mean she's been she was on the street for Years and years and of course like Richie the man in the in the video, you know, you're waiting for that call and They eventually got that call for for Lexi as well Your cousin Lexi's grandmother. She was okay with you doing this story and Lexi She spoke to you a number of times. What is it about her story that she wanted you to share? Well, I had worked I was working on, you know a series of documentaries and each time I said to Lexi I'm not sure if I can help you but You speaking about this and about your life can I think maybe somehow at least make people aware of this? Situation that's happening and and I think she did achieve that but we're still doing the same thing, right? What's changed nothing has changed we wait for you know These drug addicts to come to their senses somehow and be ready for rehabilitation It's not working and it's not working in thousands of cases and people are suffering and dying And I just think we need to rethink This situation that we have ourselves in because what we're doing is not working Lexi's death should be a wake-up call. I hope so. Yeah. Well, thanks for sharing it Eric in our last hour We shared an important story about Lexi the 35 year old who recently lost her life After a year's long battle with drug addiction Hope you had a chance to watch it that story was personal for Eric Johnson and anchor with our sister station Komo I sat down with him to talk about Lexi and her life and the difficulty of sharing such a personal story and What he hopes to see now to prevent more lives from being lost This was a hard watch and I think it's a hard watch because of the ending, of course but then also thinking about the personal connection that you had to Lexi and Everything that happened along the way over a long period of time Yeah, I think it's been a hard watch for me and my family for 15 years watching this This thing that happened to this beautiful lovely little girl you know She was at my wedding dancing around and everyone was like, oh my god. That is the most adorable little girl I've ever seen she was and She was alive and bright and charismatic and funny and witty talented. She was a great cook So it was a tough watch for our viewers It's a tough watch for our family for these number of years. And of course the ending We all saw the ending coming. We know the ending this ending happens on our streets Over and over again year after year We keep trying the same things the same things don't work and the endings are sadly very predictable Difficult story I'm sure to tell too because of the personal connection and I'm curious Why you wanted? These folks to see it why you wanted to share her story and knowing how difficult the outcome is So I interviewed Lexi over the course of eight nine years and she appeared in three documentaries that I did The most notable was Seattle is dying, but there were ones previous to that one was about homelessness one was about heroin She appeared in those she was very brave She never once hesitated. She wanted to Explain this trap that she had fallen into And of course the trap the logical ending of the trap that she had fallen into addiction to heroin and then fentanyl Was her death and it seems to me that It wouldn't be doing her bravery and her courage justice to just let it not end This is what happens to these kids. There are very few happy endings When you fall into that cycle, we see it on our streets every day There are few happy endings and you know The media and we're part of the media will will trumpet the success stories Oh look We found someone that made it through just on sheer will or they went into services and went into Rehabilitation and look they succeeded and they have a meaningful life now Those are the exceptions and They are Greatly the exceptions the vast majority are out there You know Struggling struggling and then dying and I just wanted to I think it's important to say hey This isn't working for all of our good intentions and there are lots of people with great intentions out there This idea of oh we offer them services we offer them shelters and Then we say when you're ready You come to us and we will get you through this. Guess what? They're never ready They're they're heavily addicted to these incredibly strong drugs. They're out of their minds What would you like to see? as a result of Sharing her story of sharing such a personal story. What would you like to see going forward? I would like to see a Reassessment of what we're doing out on those streets when it comes to this Form of addiction. I would like to this our world our society our government The people we choose to put in office. I would like all of us to sit back and go This is not working people are suffering they're dying like animals They're living horrible lives. They're stealing from those around them To get the drugs it impacts all of us. I want us to say This is not working What else are we going to do? Do we have the guts and the wherewithal to intervene in? Lives that are out of control and if the answer continues to be No You know, we will just continue offering what we're offering and hope for the best. Well, then we have nobody to blame We have nobody to blame but ourselves If you missed Eric's story about Lexi, you can watch it by heading to our sister stations website The address is come on news.com. I think he has an important point where You know, we celebrate the Successes but the successes are quite rare and I was sort of reading through some of the comments since this story was posted on our Website yesterday after it aired at six o'clock on our sister station come home And there were so many comments on the website about you know Parents who have dealt with similar losses who have tried to get help, but they faced so many obstacles in Trying to get help for their loved ones There were stories about people in similar circumstances who have lost a family member or friend and there were some who were even blaming the users themselves for getting involved In drug use in the first place and saying hey, you know, that's your problem that sort of thing but you think about One story that we just shared there with with Lexi and the heartbreaking ending that it had And you think about she's just one story and there are so many others out there That don't get shared and so many other lives to get lost every single day on the streets in origin it is a heartbreaking story and and I think Eric Johnson for sharing that with our viewing area and My condolences are certainly with his family And I'm glad you brought up some of the comments on our website because I've been seeing a lot from parents saying I'm gonna show this story to my 17 year old or I'm gonna show this to my 15 year old because we see it more and more Like in Lexi's case they start using drugs or trying drugs sometimes even by accident these days at such a young age and it's such a pivotal time to talk to your kids about drug use and the implications and impact of using So if you're watching at home, I encourage you as well to share that with a loved one You and I were just having a conversation with one of our co-workers in the newsroom a little bit earlier this morning who has a kid within the you know, 10 to 12 range and is worried about Potentially their child facing The possibility or the the offer of having drugs as they get older and saying, you know What do I do as as a parent to help prevent that? So it's it's so many important Conversations that I know a lot of you that have kids are having and thinking about and dealing with every single day And again, you think about those lives that are lost and so many of those stories that don't get told and we certainly thank Eric for for sharing Lexi's and and Obviously think about Lexi's family because we know they're going through a really difficult time right now. Definitely a tough time