May 29, 2024 marks five years since Donald Newman, a Lake Geneva man, died of a drug overdose.
Since then, his mother, Kathy Galipo has pushed for prosecutors to take action. She believes the person who gave her son the fatal dose should face charges.
TM4's Andrea Albers took this mother's plea for justice to the DA's office to find out why a charging decision has not been made. She was told the case is not closed, and since it's still open, prosecutors weren't willing to speak with her about it.
"We've been trying to get a meeting for the last two years — and nothing," said Kathy. Her repeated calls to the Walworth County District Attorney have gone largely unanswered.
She believes that prosecutors have enough to file charges in connection with her son Donald's death. After Donald died, Kathy had an initial meeting with the DA's office in 2022.
Since then, Kathy says she and her legal team have reached out more than a dozen times but, no answer from the DA. "It's pretty simple to return a phone call. I mean, I think it's kind of disrespectful on their part," added Kathy.
Lake Geneva Police reports from May 29th, 2019 indicate two other people were present the night Donald Newman died of an overdose. The reports even quote someone who identified the person who gave Donald heroin.
But after getting nowhere with prosecutors, Kathy turned a private investigator for help. Gary Raymond who owns Great Lakes Security Services has more than three decades of law enforcement experience.
"This one kind of baffles me," he said. "I think it baffles the family, the more people they talk to, that this particular district attorney refuses to prosecute this case, for whatever reason."
Raymond says he's seen charges come out of similar cases and believes there's reason to prosecute this case too. "There was only a small group of people there and you have someone that's willing to testify that one person gave another a drug, and that person passed away because of that drug. It seems pretty simple to me. I think the district attorney just needs to send it to court," he continued. "Let the judge or the jury decide what they feel about the evidence and the witnesses."
According to data from the Center for Health Policy and Law at Northeastern University, Wisconsin is among the top four states in the country when it comes to prosecuting drug-induced homicide charges.
Kathy remains hopeful that Donald's death will spark litigation even now, five years later. "I have to go visit him in the cemetery? Who wants to do that? Or look at a picture of him on the table. How many people get to do that? I do."
Kathy lost both of her sons, her only children, to fentanyl overdoses.
Donald Newman died in 2019 at the age of 24. His older brother Paul died the following year. He was 29.
"The time my oldest one passed, was three days after Christmas. And my youngest son's birthday is January 4th. So, December and January are pretty tough for me," said Kathy.
Something that has helped, Kathy says, is a recently released song from a local band titled "One More Day."
WXRW 104.1 FM plans to play the song at 9:00 p.m. on May 29, 2024, in memory of Donald's passing.
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