After high school student found dead in Petaluma, police point to overdose

A 16-year-old high school student found dead last week at his home near downtown Petaluma appears to have died from a drug overdose, police said.

Daniel Adams, a San Antonio High School student, was found at about 7 a.m. Sept. 7 inside a home on the 300 block of Wilson Street. Police said drug paraphernalia was found nearby.

His death marks the 19th overdose-related fatality in Petaluma this year, and first responders have attended to 41 calls in the city related to drug overdoses in 2021, Petaluma Police Lt. Tim Lyons said in a news release Sept. 9.

Family members, reached Thursday night, described Daniel as a good boy who “lit up the whole room.”

“We want the community to know he was a kind and a good boy,” said Robin Hatton, Daniel’s aunt. “He had a lot of love in his heart.”

Police have not yet disclosed the types of drug paraphernalia found at the scene and investigators are awaiting additional toxicology reports, according to the release.

“An autopsy was conducted Wednesday and an initial cause of death appeared to have been overdose-related,” Lyons said.

Police are continuing to investigate the death, which happened at the boy’s home.

Hatton said the family preferred to remember Daniel as a happy boy who loved sports and swimming, but she also cautioned the community to be aware of the ongoing opioid epidemic.

“Nobody wants to speak about it. There’s a lot of shame about it,” she said. “But it is very, very serious. And these kids, it’s out there. And they don’t realize that this is deadly. And they make one bad choice and here we are.”

It wasn’t immediately clear how many of the 19 overdose deaths in Petaluma this year were juveniles.

There were 5,363 overdose deaths in California in 2020, the most recent year for which data is available through the California Opioid Dashboard.

“My heart breaks for every child, every mother, every father … everyone that we’ve lost through these opioids,” said Hatton, her voice cracking.

Detailed information about Petaluma trends was not immediately available, but in the police news release Lyons said the number of calls related to overdoses likely under-represents the local overdose picture.

“The actual number is presumably much higher, due to some overdose patients going directly to a hospital without police knowledge and some calls being reported as a medical call for service, which police usually do not initially respond to,” the lieutenant said.

In a district-wide email sent out Sept. 9, Petaluma City Schools commemorated Daniel as a “kind and caring child,” a big brother to four little sisters and a student that teachers remembered as a soft-spoken, sensitive person “who looked for the best in everyone.”

Hatton said she was hesitant to speak in detail about the case, saying an investigation was ongoing. But she said the family is seeking justice.

“I’m begging the district attorney to look at this case. I’m begging for justice for Daniel,” Hatton said. “That is the only thing that’s going to help right now.”

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call Det. Zeus Rivera at 707-778-4444.

Tyler Silvy is editor of the Petaluma Argus-Courier. Reach him at tyler.silvy@arguscourier.com, 707-776-8458, or @tylersilvy on Twitter.