Jázmin Pellegrini, a bright-eyed 15-year-old who found moments of joy chasing butterflies along the Bay Area wetlands after immigrating from Hungary, died alone on a cold San Francisco driveway from a fentanyl overdose in April 2024. Her death marked the end of a two-year descent into severe mental illness and drug use triggered by childhood sexual trauma—a spiral that saw her trapped in a revolving door of roughly 40 hospitalizations across Northern California. As her mental state deteriorated, she began experimenting with illicit substances, including fentanyl.
The last night Jázmin's family saw her alive—April 17—she walked out of their home in just her socks, her mother and sister Dorina following behind, begging her to return. They briefly caught up with her at a corner store but then, in an instant, she vanished into the darkness. Two days later, her body was found in a San Francisco driveway, the youngest life claimed by fentanyl in San Francisco. At her May funeral, as family members wept and shared memories of the joyful girl who once loved carving pumpkins and swimming in the family pool, they covered her casket with stuffed animals and flowers—a tender final gesture for a child who never got the chance to heal.
