Anger swirls after twin boys die of suspected fentanyl exposure

A boy in a red shirt and shorts sits across from another boy in a white shirt and jeans on a mall train ride.

By Grace TooheyStaff Writer

July 24, 2024 3 AM PT

Two days before Jestina James watched paramedics rush her nephews to the hospital, the twin boys were celebrating their third birthday at Chuck E. Cheese.

Josiah, whom the family called “Jojo,” spent hours in the trampoline area, with a seemingly insatiable love of jumping. His brother, Jestine, or “Juju,” explored the restaurant and arcade with his cousins, running around, laughing. He stuck his tongue out as he posed for a photo with the restaurant’s mouse mascot.

The bright, bubbly toddlers enjoyed pizza and a big cookie with family.

Now, James said, that memory feels almost unreal since her family’s world turned upside down in a matter of hours two weeks ago.

On July 11 — two days after the boys’ birthday — both toddlers became unresponsive and were rushed to a hospital after prosecutors say they were exposed to fentanyl, becoming the latest victims in a tragic trend of infants killed by the extremely potent synthetic opioid.

Jojo was pronounced dead at the hospital. Juju was listed in critical condition and died two days later.

“It’s just horrible,” said James, 28. “I don’t even know how to feel, it’s just numb.”

Two boys in white T-shirts and blue-gray shorts sitting on a playground

The twins’ cause of death is still under investigation, but their mother, 22-year-old Jestice James — Jestina James’ younger sister — has been charged with two counts of murder and two counts of child abuse. Jestice James is being represented by the L.A. County alternate public defender due to a conflict of interest with the public defender’s office. The office of the alternate public defender did not respond to a request for comment.

Family members are still in shock and deep in grief as they struggle to comprehend how they lost their curious, active babies — especially when they say the twins’ mother wasn’t known to have any substance abuse issues or use any drugs harder than marijuana.

“We don’t know what happened, to be honest,” Jestina James said. She just remembers hearing her sister scream from another room in the family apartment, where she found her nephews in distress. Jestina James said she attempted CPR on Jojo until the paramedics arrived.

Before they could piece together what was going on, the boys were gone, she said.

“It’s like a dream, wake me up,” said Latina Allen, the twins’ grandmother and primary caretaker. “It just took something out of me that I never thought would ever leave me — part of my heart is just gone.”

Although the twins lived with their grandmother and aunt, their mom visited frequently, the family said. She was with them at their birthday party two days earlier, joined them on family outings and often stopped by to help care for the twins.

On July 11, she came by with her boyfriend, a situation that was not out of the ordinary, family said.

“She never, ever put her kids in no type of harm, so I just don’t know what happened,” Jestina James said.

Allen said she can’t imagine her daughter endangering the twins and thinks there must be more to the story. She questioned why her daughter’s boyfriend hasn’t been arrested.

“I just can’t see this from her. She was too loving to them,” Allen said. “I want answers.”

Los Angeles Police Department officials have said that none of the home’s other residents are under investigation, though county prosecutor Jonathan Hatami said LAPD investigators are still “gathering additional video evidence, interviewing additional witnesses and looking at any possible additional defendants” responsible for the twins’ death. Law enforcement sources with knowledge of the case, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said the deadly drugs were found easily accessible in part of the Canoga Park home where the boys were found unresponsive.

The charges against Jestice James mark L.A. County’s first child abuse case involving a child’s death from fentanyl exposure, Hatami said, noting that three other similar cases could soon see prosecution.

“Children are our most vulnerable. They don’t buy fentanyl and they don’t smoke it. Adults are doing that,” said Hatami, the lead prosecutor on the twins’ case. “But it is the innocent children who are paying the ultimate price. It’s unacceptable. ... We need more education, more awareness and more accountability regarding the dangers of fentanyl as it relates to innocent babies and toddlers.”

Allen described her daughter — before this nightmare — as a good mom.

“She’s real good with them,” Allen said. “When she was here with us, around the kids, she took care of them.”

Neither Allen nor Jestina James have spoken with Jestice James since her arrest. They haven’t yet grasped her role in the twins’ deaths, but know none of it should have happened.

“She’s gotta live with what she did; she should never have brought nothing into my house,” Jestina James said. “I can’t wrap my head around it. … This [has made] me angry.”

James said her 3-year-old daughter keeps asking to play with her cousins. She hasn’t figured out what to tell her.

“My sister’s not a bad person, but for her to take two little souls from us — two little lives...,” she said, her voice trailing off. “I feel like she needs help more than anything.”

Allen said it’s still hard to believe that the twins are gone.

“I still cry, walking around, talking to them — to myself, but to them,” she said. “It’s just hard.”

She recalled how the boys would use her legs as a slide. How they loved going to the beach, the aquarium, the pumpkin patch, the splash park.

“They loved going to the park,” Allen said. “To lose two that you really love ... they’re so full of life.”

Times staff writers Rebecca Ellis and Richard Winton contributed to this report.