GEORGIA, USA — Editor's Note: The above video is from previous coverage of this story. Please read below for the latest information.
A 24-year-old man has been arrested and faces charges in connection to the death of a University of Georgia student who died from a fentanyl overdose. Fulton County Sheriff's authorities said that the man turned himself in on Friday, where he was denied bond on the charges.
Jack O'Kelley, 20, was a junior at UGA. On Thanksgiving Eve, O'Kelley went to hang out with some friends. When his family didn't hear from him the next day, they called him. After he didn't answer, his mother said they showed up at his friend's house, where he was spending the night, but Jack's father, Mike, couldn't wake him up.
"It was the most traumatic, devastating day of our lives," his mother Angela King previously said. "And it could have been prevented."
King remembers the heartbreak she felt when she realized her son was dead.
"He was already dead," she recalled. "His fingernails were blue, not breathing."
King has been advocating for a Georgia bill that would increase penalties for drug dealers since her son's death. Her advocacy was proven to be a success when the state judicial committee passed the bill.
King said while the bill may not bring back her son, the next person who hands out deadly drugs in Georgia will, hopefully, pay for their actions.
"The impact on these drug dealers who are knowingly putting this fentanyl into drugs, and hopefully, that will make a difference," King previously said.
Georgia leaders learned that marijuana wouldn't be an example of a drug affected by this bill, but dealers whose drugs kill their patrons could face no less than 10 years and up to more than 30 years for their offenses.
The charges the man faces are possession of a firearm or knife during the commission of a felony, attempt to commit certain felonies, two counts of trafficking illegal drugs, possession of a controlled Scheduled I drug and possession of a Schedule III, IV, or V controlled substance both with intent to distribute.
Fulton County Sheriff's authorities said that the man turned himself in on Friday, where he was denied bond on the charges.