My name is Angel Harp. My son Jarod was such a happy baby, and as a child, he was always the jokester of the family.

His early teenage years were hard for him. Their house burnt down, and I was living in another state. He later mentioned to me a trauma that he refused to talk to me or his father about.

Jarod started off drinking cough medicine to get drunk when he was around 11 or 12, and it progressed from there.

Jarod graduated high school at 16 and got a scholarship for the University of Kentucky, and received his degree at 19. Almost the whole time he was at college, he was abusing alcohol and various drugs.

He came home (Indiana), and everything seemed to go wrong for him. Come to find out, he needed more schooling to get a job in the field that he studied. He jumped from job to job, usually not keeping one for more than 6 months.

He was an alcoholic but quit drinking at the beginning of 2020. Early July of that year, however, he slipped, got drunk, and got his first DUI.

He got a new job a few weeks later near where I live. His plan was to stay with me until he had enough money to get his own place.

That job didn’t work out. It was extremely fast factory work, and he had never worked in a factory before. So, he stayed with me longer than he anticipated.

He told me around late summer, early fall of 2020, that he had done heroin in the spring. I begged him never to do it again because it’s so dangerous, especially with the possibility of it being fentanyl.

He just looked at me and said, “Mom, I’ve done fentanyl before.” He wasn’t scared of it one bit. Neither one of us had any clue how dangerous fentanyl really is or what all is really out there. But, he promised he wouldn’t do it again.

Unfortunately, he didn’t keep that promise.

In November, he was in a horrible car accident. He wasn’t sure what happened. He may have fallen asleep. He was in a small two-seater car, a Del Sol. He was on a divided highway. He went off the road, toward the other side, and went down towards a deep creek. The car flipped, throwing him through the T-top roof. He landed just before the creek, and the back tire of the car landed on his chest. By the grace of God, he survived but had broken both of his legs.

He had been on his own since he was 15. So here he was, 20 (almost 21), no job, no car, no money, two broken legs, and living at home with his mom.

He was in a free fall.

He didn’t show his depression very often. He still acted happy and upbeat most of the time. He was always trying to make sure everyone else, especially me and his 13 year old brother, was happy.

After a few months, his demons came knocking, or rather texting, and took advantage of his situation. He started using heroin again to escape his reality.

I noticed the change in him, but he always denied everything. I found out that his health insurance covered inpatient rehab and begged him to go. He adamantly denied having a problem and refused.

Around March 3rd of 2021, Jarod started acting really strange. He was slurring his words and stumbling around. This went on for a few days. He said he was taking Xanax. I now know that they were pressed fentanyl.

He left my house the afternoon of March 5th, and I told him, “Don’t come home unless you’re sober.”

He called me at 12:34 a.m., letting me know that he was on his way home, and I could tell that he was sober. That was the last time I spoke to him.

The next day was quiet. He didn’t come out of his room. I figured he was sleeping it off and I would leave him alone, and when he woke up we could go back to normal.

When his older brother and I went to his room that evening to get him, his door was locked. Thats when I knew something was wrong. Panicking, I got the key and gave it to my son and told him to open it. We rushed in the room and found Jarod half laying on his bed. He had been gone for hours.

He had shot up fentanyl, xylazine and some other things. I don’t know whether he thought it was heroin or not.

He didn’t have any heroin or Xanax in his system at all. He had fentanyl, norfentanyl, xylazine and some other crap mixed. The coroner told me that normal people overdose on fentanyl at a level 3 or 4. People that have a high tolerance at 14 or 15. His level was 45.

He was murdered.

Jarod never had a problem telling people when they were wrong. He called the wrong person out a few too many times and became a thorn in that guys side. Jarod was murdered because of that.

Looking back, knowing what i know now, I know he was being poisoned for days, right in front of our eyes, then the shot sent him over.

We went to the police in my county as well as the city where his dealer lives, Lima, Ohio, with text messages in hand, showing that he sold it to my son.

The cops stated that they know the guy, they know what he does, they’re watching him, but there’s not enough evidence to go after the guy that killed my baby.

My family is devastated. His younger brother got in trouble with the law for the first time, shortly after Jarod left. His older brother blames me for killing Jarod, and our relationship is forever changed. I fight every day between staying here with my other 3 sons and grandchildren or going to be with Jarod.

He was the best big brother to his younger brother. He adored his niece and nephew and called his niece his favorite human. He was the one son who made time for me, was most like me, and was one of my best friends. I don’t think any of us will ever recover from losing Jarod.

He was and will always be mommy’s baby. He was one of my soul mates. Jarod had his demons, but he was such a good, kind, compassionate, charming person. He wanted to make a difference and to make the world a better place.

This is how he’s doing it.

Jarod’s legacy wont be how he died, it will be how many lives he helps save.

Jarod’s mom 💜

Jarod Alexander Galloway

1/1/2000-3/6/2021

Forever 21

Murdered by fentanyl and xylazine poisoning

Topeka, IN