Homicide detectives are investigating a pair of deaths related to narcotics overdoses to see whether there might be murder charges available.
Two deaths within a two-week span prompted investigators to request search warrants for two phones found left behind in the aftermath of the tragedy.
Homicide detectives did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday about the status of their investigation into the two deaths and whether there is any connection between the drugs that caused the deaths.
Two incidents appear to be treated separately based on L.A. County Superior Court and Sheriff’s Department records obtained by The Signal.
The following information was compiled from two detectives’ requests to a judge to search the phones of the decedents to see whether the devices might provide any information about what happened.
Canyon Country
A 25-year-old Canyon Country woman was found unresponsive in bed by her fiancé on Feb. 24 in their home on Ridge View Drive, the morning after his 29th birthday, according to the report from the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputy who first received the call.
Detectives are not sure what drug might have caused Mikayla Leuders’ death, according to the investigator’s request to search Leuders’ phone — that’s part of what they’re trying to determine.
Leuders’ autopsy case is still listed as an open investigation, with her cause of death deferred pending the results of toxicology tests.
The victim’s fiancé indicated that Leuders had used narcotics previously but believed she had been clean since June 2024.
Phones track everything from locations where a suspect or victim may have been before their death to messaging that might create a timeline leading up to whatever happened.
Newhall
Nearly two weeks later, homicide detectives returned to Santa Clarita for a March 10 death investigation, this time for Manny Hernandez, a 43-year-old Newhall man who was found by his 12-year-old son deceased in the bathroom of his home on Via Canon.
The boy notified his mother, who called 911, but it was too late.
Medical examiners determined Hernandez’s cause of death was the effects of fentanyl. The autopsy conclusion was supported by a small tinfoil bindle of suspected fentanyl found in Hernandez’s pocket, according to the search-warrant request.
In April, a lab criminalist confirmed detectives’ suspicion: the bindle contained fentanyl and heroin.
An official with the LASD Homicide Bureau said Tuesday the investigation into Hernandez’s death had been referred to detectives with the LASD Narcotics Bureau.
Now detectives with the Overdose Response Task Force are trying to determine the source of the drugs that killed Hernandez.
