On Sunday morning, Jan. 15, 2012, Fresno, Calif. resident Aide Mendez painted a tragic picture of a meth user for the entire country to see when she taped her use of the addictive drug with her iPad before killing both her children, her boyfriend's cousin and then herself.
CBS News reported that the 23-year-old mother of two would have murdered her boyfriend and father of her children as well if 33-year-old Eduardo Lopez had not managed to drag himself to a nearby neighbor's home after being stabbed and shot.
Fresno Police Dept. Lt. Mark Salazar reported that the murder-suicide event occurred at the Silver Lakes Apartment complex, where Mendez shot and killed her 17-month-old baby Aliyah Echeverria and 3-year-old Isaiah Echeverria, as well as 27-year-old Paul Medina, after arguing with her boyfriend Eduardo Lopez.
"We do know that drugs played a key role," Lt. Salazar said, adding "We know the power of Meth."
DEA and Meth Use in Calif.
The DEA says that California, where this crime occurred, has seen an increase from 8 to 31 percent between 1992 through 2003 for Meth related treatment admissions. And it's no wonder why, as this is one of the most addictive and hard to get off of drugs out there.
It's also one of the most poorly understood, according to the DEA, with many people thinking it is relatively harmless and helpful for weightloss use, unaware that dietary supplements, appetite suppressants and energy enhancing substances have the same origins as the drug Mendez used prior to her murderous rage on Sunday.
To get an idea of how meth use is increasing in California alone, the DEA reported that 20 percent or less of San Jose arrestees were found to have meth in their system in the 90's, but that number had increased to 35 percent in a just one decade. San Diego, which originally had the highest percentage of users in arrestees, was later joined in 2003 by San Jose and Sacramento.
Mendez Fresno Meth case not only one
Aide Mendez isn't the only Meth user to allegedly take the life of another after using the dangerous and illegal drug. In fact, Meth use can often lead to violent behavior, especially frequent use of the drug.
In Georgia, another meth user was sentenced to life imprisonment for the killing of his home contractor in 2001 after smoking the illegal substance. News accounts of the case incorporated the "chasing the dragon" terminology that is commonly used when describing this drug and how it is used.
References: CBS News, DEA, Georgia court case
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