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WELD COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — A Weld County family opened up about their recent tragic loss to prevent another family from experiencing the same heartbreak. Chelsea Ramirez says her husband died from a fentanyl overdose, but he wasn’t an addict, and he wasn’t trying to get a high, he was just a hard-working father in pain.

According to Ramirez, her husband, Ignacio Landa Ramirez, was suffering from back pain last August. He made an appointment with a doctor’s office, but it was seven to eight weeks out.

“We were going to have to wait a long time and he was just really in pain that day,” Ramirez said.

That night, Ramirez said her husband contacted a high school friend she said was known to have prescription painkillers.

“My husband paid her $20 to die. That was the cost of his life,” Ramirez said.

Her husband took what he thought was an Oxycodone pill. Minutes later, he lost consciousness. The night was spent trying to get him to breathe again. He spent the next five days in the hospital on life support. They stopped the machine after doctors said he was brain dead. He died minutes later.

The Ramirez family learned fentanyl was to blame.

Ramirez said she shared all the information she could with the Greeley Police Department. That included neighbor security camera footage she said shows the woman arrive at their home that night and a transaction.

“This person who poisoned my husband is potentially out on the streets potentially poisoning other people,” Ramirez said.

She’s frustrated with the progress in her husband’s case.

“If we know the person, and we’ve identified her, and I’m willing to testify, and we’ve given them video, what are we waiting for?” Ramirez said.

FOX31 reached out to the Greeley Police Department about the progress in the case. They sent the following statement:

“Currently, this case is an active investigation that is assigned to a Weld County Drug Task Force Investigator. Because it is an active investigation, we cannot make any specific comments at this time.

While I can’t speak directly for the investigator what I can say is that the Greeley Police Department takes every case reported to us seriously, especially ones that results in the death of a community member. Investigations like these take time and sometimes we have to retain important case information internally, as to not jeopardize the investigation and/or subsequent conviction of the suspect(s).”

Greeley Police Department

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