WEST HEMPELD MAN SAYS DATE RAPE DRUG PLAYED ROLE IN DAUGHTER’S 2017 DEATH; OFFERS $100K REWARD FOR INFORMATION
Shame On You, Date-Rape Drug, Sex Offenders & Others In Positions Of Trust; Family Members
Oct. 19, 2018
Lancaster Online
A West Hempfield Township man believes someone slipped a date rape drug into his daughter’s drink before she died after being hit by an SUV in Maryland last year.
Dan Fisher is offering more than $100,000 in reward money and hired a private investigator as he seeks to identify the person he says drugged his daughter Maria hours before her death on Oct. 1, 2017. He believes the Gamma Hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, in her system set off a series of events that resulted in Maria, 18, being struck by the SUV near the University of Maryland, where she was a freshman. She had graduated from Hempfield High School four months before.
“I’m not going to be able to bring Maria back, but I’m trying to do what Maria would do, which is help others,” Fisher told LNP Tuesday. He said he is not satisfied with the police investigation and what he said was the university’s lack of cooperation. Prince George County police closed its investigation into the incident earlier this year.
Fisher believes the GHB in his daughter’s system explains why she ended up in a panic on the multilane highway where she was struck. He said her death was shocking in and of itself, but learning more about her unusual behavior hours before raised red flags for him and investigators. Police ordered a more extensive autopsy than what is typically done for pedestrian fatalities. Seven months later, toxicology results came back and showed a level of GHB in her system. The GHB discovered during the autopsy was within the range of a naturally occurring amount, Prince George County police spokeswoman Jennifer Donelan told LNP Wednesday. GHB is present in the nervous system in small concentrations, but can be abused for its euphoric and sedative effects, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. It is illegal to produce, sell or possess GHB except for medical use. Fisher didn’t think the GHB level discovered in his daughter was irrelevant and a few months ago he hired a private investigator from Maryland. “In about 30 minutes, you can be incoherent and incapacitated,” Fisher said of GHB. “That’s what led us to believe that’s what happened.” That behavior is consistent with how Maria acted the hours before she died, he said. He said Maria’s phone communication with friends went from normal to incoherent to none for several hours before she called her roommate in a panic. Maria was on the phone with her roommate when she was struck by the SUV while crossing the highway against the traffic light near the university’s campus.
Police went “above and beyond” in their investigation as well as in addressing Fisher’s concerns, Donelan said. The investigation showed the cause of Maria’s death was injury from being hit by a vehicle while crossing a road against a traffic light. The driver, Donelan said, stopped at the scene and was cited with three speeding-related traffic violations. “I’m confident in the findings of the investigators, but none of that brings her back. None of that, I’m sure, comforts the father and her family because it is a horrible, tremendous loss and my heart goes out to them,” Donelan said. Fisher said he’s “pretty certain” he knows at least one person involved. The person, he said, was interviewed by the private investigator and was referred to police for an interview. The challenge is gathering more evidence, he said. The university has been largely uncooperative in looking into the possibility of his daughter being drugged, he said. The University of Maryland did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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