South Carolina teenager, 19, tries to sell ashes of ex-girlfriend's mother to buy heroin

Jackson Rutland was charged with both burglary and the destruction, sacrilege or removal of human remains

PUBLISHED OCT 16, 2022

Jackson Rutland tried to sell his ex-girlfriend's mother's ashes to buy heroin (Aiken County Sheriff's Office)

AIKEN, SOUTH CAROLINA: A South Carolina teenager sold the remains of his ex-girlfriend's mother for heroin. According to an arrest warrant obtained by WRDW, Jackson Rutland, 19, texted his ex-girlfriend around 5:40 am on Wednesday, October 12, to inform her that he had removed her mother's ashes from her Warrensville house while she was visiting a friend.

She came home and discovered the house had been burgled. As per the arrest warrant, she told officers that her mother's ashes had been disturbed and some had been scattered on the ground. Police still don't know why he thought selling the ashes would help in any way.

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"I've never heard of anything like that," said Capt Eric Abdullah of the Aiken County Sheriff's Office, according to the NY Post. According to prison records, he was taken into custody on Thursday, October 13, and charged with both burglary and the destruction, sacrilege or removal of human remains.

This incident brings to light the worsening drug problem in the US. The most widely used drugs in 2021, according to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics (NCDAS), were marijuana, prescription stimulants and methamphetamines, with about 32 million individuals (11.7% of the population) using. In the US, more than 60% of the population reported active drug, alcohol and cigarette use. Drug use costs the nation more than $740B annually in lost wages, medical expenses and crimes connected to drugs.

The misuse of opioids and prescription medications has become the fastest-growing drug issue in America and wreaked havoc on local communities all over the nation. In 2021, 9.7 million individuals abused prescription painkillers, 4.9 million people misused prescription stimulants and 5.9 million people misused prescription tranquillizers or sedatives, according to the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Opioids such as heroin are the most often used substance in cases of overdoses, which is the main cause of unintentional death. The opioid problem has claimed almost as many lives in the country as World War-II.