CINCINNATI — On Feb. 1, 2022, Kim Shields received a call that every parent dreads. She was told her son, Cole Heisey, had died from a drug overdose.
"My heart just shattered," Shields said.
Shields said Cole was a loving son and older brother to his two siblings. She said Cole had been struggling with addiction, but she never expected to get that news.
"It affects everybody," Shields said. "It destroys lives."
For more than two years, Shields and her family didn't know who was responsible for distributing the drugs that took Cole's life. She said she wasn't sure they'd ever find that person.
Then she received a call last June.
"He's like 'Kim, we got him' and I fell to my knees again," Shields said. "But I got the closure I never thought I would get."
The call was from a detective with the Hamilton County Heroin Task Force, created in 2015 to combat a rise in opioid overdose deaths in the county.
Task Force Commander Mike Davenport said, at the time, they were looking into a suspect in another case. That's when he and another detective made a connection that linked the suspect to Heisey's death.
Learn more about their breakthrough in the cold case in the video below:
In June, 43-year-old Padraic O'Donnell was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter, corrupting another with drugs and drug trafficking. O'Donnell was sentenced to two years in prison by a Hamilton County Judge in connection with Heisey's death.
That breakthrough led Davenport's team to create a new cold case unit. The initiative launched this week and will lead to nearly 2,000 cold cases being reopened.
"Had those chance happenings not occurred we'd not have been doing this," Davenport said.
Davenport said a cold case review panel will meet bi-monthly to do a thorough examination of each case. Davenport said the panel will include experts like people from the federal prosecutor's office and the county prosecutor's office.
"Not only do I think we are going to open up some cases and solve some crimes, quite frankly, I think we are going to save some lives with the work we are doing," Davenport said.
Davenport said prosecuting these kinds of cases can be difficult, but he said he's hoping that technology, like cell phone data, can help in some cases like Heisey's. He said they want to provide families some closure and give them a chance to heal.
"Even if we're not prosecuting that offender, we are going to give that family support no matter how that looks," Davenport said.
Hamilton County Commissioner Denise Driehaus said it's important to combat the change in drug supply and go after the dealers to prevent future deaths.
"It is (just) as important to go after these guys as it is for somebody that held a gun to somebody's head because it's the same thing," Driehaus said.
Shields said she's grateful for Davenport's team providing her family some closure.
"It's almost a sense of calm, a sense of peace if you ever lose a child this way," Shields said.
She said she's confident other families will soon feel the same.
"There's hope, I didn't give up hope and they didn't either," Shields said. "They never gave up on Cole or us and they're not going to give up on other families."
If you'd like to contact Davenport about the initiative, you can email him at mdavenport@hcso.org.
The following harm reduction resources are available for anyone in need:
- Narcan is available, accessible, and is not limited to injection drug users only.
- Drugs such as cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine likely contain other dangerous substances that can cause overdose and death. A high supply of fentanyl, potent fentanyl analogues, and nitazenes puts all users at risk. We have seen multiple deaths in people using drugs that are not suspected to have opioids in them.
- Start with a low dose to see how you are affected. Swallowing the drug will take longer to take effect than other methods such as injection.
- Avoid using alone. Try to have someone sober near you and provide help if needed.
- Have more than one dose of naloxone available. Multiple doses could be needed to reverse an overdose.
- If you suspect someone may be overdosing, call 911 immediately for an ambulance and do not leave the person alone.
- If you need Narcan, safe injection supplies, or fentanyl testing strips, please visit Hamilton County Public Health.
- If you need treatment, call 513-558-8888.
