On April 16, 2021, Karl Krupp, age 38, died of fentanyl poisoning in Amarillo, Texas. His body was found on a bus, which he was taking from Phoenix to his hometown in Owensville, Missouri.
“He was on his way home,” Jeannette Krupp said. “He didn’t make it.”
Interviewed by phone, Jeannette, Karl’s older sister, is leaving the Amarillo bus station on Thursday, August 29, on her bicycle and riding 700 miles across three states in nine days. Her destination: Owensville. Her goal: To complete “Karl’s Last Ride” and bring awareness to the high risk of addiction and overdose death of fentanyl, a powerful painkiller.
Jeannette’s ride won’t take her through Clinton, Mo., but the dates of her ride overlap with National Overdose Awareness Day on Saturday, August 31, which will be observed at a candlelight vigil at 7 p.m. on the Clinton Square. It is the third year that the vigil has been held on the Square by Celebrate Recovery, and has the same purpose as Jeannette’s ride: to alert people to the danger of drug addiction and overdose.
Clinton’s Drug Overdose Awareness Candlelight Vigil started three years ago when one of the Celebrate Recovery members, Stephanie Hernandez, suggested it, Darren Huey, Celebrate Recovering director, said.
“The first year we had about 50 people,” Darren said. “Last year we had 125.”
This year’s vigil, which starts at 7 p.m., will feature music by Kingdom Fighters and testimonies by a person who lost someone to a drug overdose and a person who survived a drug overdose. Prayer and poetry round out the vigil, with candles lit as the names of loved ones who died of drug overdoses are read.
Each flame represents a person whose life, like Karl’s, was snuffed out prematurely, leaving a dark hole in the hearts of his parents, his siblings and his children. In 2022, more than 100,000 people died from drug-related overdoses in the United States.
Jeannette, who is in her early 40s, said she is planning to ride her Salsa touring bicycle on Route 66 to Owensville, which is northeast of Interstate 44, halfway between St. James and Herman. She will have a sag wagon (support vehicle) with a sign on it following her, and has sent press releases about the ride to towns along the route —Clinton, Okla., Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Joplin, Springfield, Lebannon, Rolla and St. James.
Last week, she was scheduled to do an interview for a newspaper in Denton, Texas, she said, and to appear on Channel 7 News in Amarillo.
When she arrives outside of Owensville, she will be met by her parents, who are raising Karl’s two younger daughters, Emily and Aspen, ages 5 and 4. Karl’s older daughter Clarice,15, Emily and Aspen will ride their bicycles with their aunt to the finish line at the high school.
Karl was first prescribed fentanyl after he was in a serious car accident, Jeannette said, from which he was airlifted to the hospital after being trapped under the steering wheel with multiple broken bones. A synthetic opioid drug, fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine as a pain reliever. Available by prescription under the brand names Duragesic, Actiq, Abstral, Sublimaze, Subsys and Ionsys, fentanyl is approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat severe pain, but has a high risk of addiction and dependence.
After pharmacy laws changed, Karl’s prescription was cancelled and he started obtaining fentanyl on the street, Jeannette said. She remembers
“He was in so much pain,” she said. “He said if he didn’t use it, he felt like he was dying.”
Made in labs and sold illegally, fentanyl can be in powder form, dropped onto blotter paper, put in eye droppers and nasal sprays, and made into pills. Karl apparently picked up fentanyl in New Mexico, Jeannette said. Fentanyl slows breathing and retards brain function, causing confusion and drowsiness. Karl fell asleep on the bus, and had stopped breathing by the time the bus reached Amarillo.
“They said he had enough fentanyl in his body to kill 20 people,” Jeannette said. “If they’d had Narcan on the bus, it would have saved him.”
Narcan is the brand name of naloxone, which can be used to successfully reverse an overdose. It can be administered as a spray to reverse restricted breathing, or injected.
Karl had struggled with fentanyl addiction for ten years, Jeannette said, five of which she spent taking him to rehab and picking him, and getting him out of jail. She also lost her cousin, Brandon Krupp, to fentanyl poisoning in 2018. She has made three 450-mile bicycle rides to raise awareness of the danger of drug overdose. The first was a multi-state trip that started in Ohio, which has a high number of fatal overdoses, and ended in Missouri.
“Every mile is in memory of someone,” she said.
A sport performance coach at a high school in Denton, Texas, Jeannette said she is not a cyclist, but is an athlete — she has done pro-body building, played NCAA-1 volleyball and was a nationally-ranked acrobatics champion.
This is her most challenging ride yet. To make it to the end, she visualizes all the names on the ribbons at the finish — so far there are 150, she said. She invites people to send names of family or friends lost to SUD (substance use disorder) or suicide, to her website, www.StayStrongKrupp.com.
At the Candlelight Vigil in Clinton, Save a Life Bags will be distributed, Darren said, which contain Narcan, plus test strips to detect the presence of fentanyl in drugs, and information about drug abuse. Compass Health, Hope Project, Forged by Christ and Narcotics Anonymous will be at the vigil, Darren said, along with Celebrate Recovery.
People who have lost a family member or friend can go to the Celebrate Recovery Clinton MO Facebook page, and put the name and date of the loss on the list, which will be read as the candles are lit at the vigil.
The vigil is a place where people who have lost family and friends to a drug overdose can remember them and mourn their loss. Given the connotations of substance abuse, it is one people are sometimes reluctant to share, Jeannette said.
“Not talking about it doesn’t make it go away,” she said, “so I’m talking about it.”
She also invites cyclists to ride part of Karl’s Last Ride with her (email JFKfitness@gmail.com).
Funeral services for Karl Clarence Krupp IV, born Nov. 7, 1982, took place on Friday, April 23, 2021, in Owensville, Mo., with burial at Resurrection Cemetery in St. Louis. He was survived by his father and mother, three daughters and his partner’s son, his two older sisters, two nieces and a nephew. Memorials went to StayStrongKrupp.com, Jeannette’s nonprofit organization to prevent drug overdoses and promote mental health.
Jeannette said after Karl died, she received hundreds of condolence messages, including from people he was in rehab with. One resident remembered Karl going up and down the hall, handing out the purple “StayStrong” bracelets Jeannette had sent him.
Jeannette also campaigns to have Narcan on every public transport, and is raising money for college scholarships for women athletes who have lost a parent, and who will never see them on the podium being awarded a medal for their efforts.
”I saw what it did to his family,” Jeannette said, “and what he is missing out on.”
She said she will try to get to Clinton, Mo., some year for the Overdose Awareness Candlelight Vigil, and perhaps ride the Rock Island Trail, which will go through Owensville. Her sister lives in Washington, Mo., where a billboard has gone up about Karl’s Last Ride.
International Overdose Awareness Day, August 31, is a worldwide campaign that started in 2001. The candlelight vigil in Clinton is held around the band pavilion on the northwest corner of the Square, West Franklin and Washington, starting at 7 p.m. Bring a lawn chair or blanket. Candles are provided.
