Arrest Made in Fatal Fentanyl Overdose of Maryland Teen

Family warns others about boy's struggle with addiction

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A 23-year-old man was arrested in connection with the fatal fentanyl overdose of a Maryland teenager.

Landen Hausman, 16, who played basketball at Walt Whitman High School, died Jan. 17.

“Having your dad and your brother find you dead on your bathroom floor is not how anyone wants to go,” said his father, Marc Hausman. “He didn’t want to die.”

His family says he fought an ugly battle with depression and addiction.

In the weeks and months following his death, his family found the path to coping with grief was openness.

“We didn’t want to politicize his death in any way,” his father said. “And we didn’t want to romanticize his death in any way.”

Mikiyas Maryie Kefyalew, 23, of Silver Spring is accused of selling Landen two pills that looked like the prescription narcotic Percocet but were actually counterfeits laced with fentanyl, according to court documents. He allegedly used his Twitter account to reach potential buyers.

Landen's father found one of them in the hours after his son’s death.

“When we turned it in to Montgomery County Police Department, the police officer wouldn’t handle it with his bare hands,” he said.

Marc Hausman wrote an article for LinkedIn about the wrenching circumstances of Landen’s death in hopes of preventing another family from experiencing the same tragedy. 

“Like any parent, we just want Landen’s life to have been meaningful,” he said. 

Kefyalew is charged with one count of distribution of a narcotic.

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