Fentanyl was involved in the tragic New Year’s Day death of prominent Charleston, South Carolina attorney David Aylor, multiple sources familiar with the ongoing investigation into his death have confirmed to this news outlet.
While no official toxicology report has been released, this news outlet has learned that this lethal substance was reportedly found in his system – along with a benzodiazepine (likely Valium) and alcohol.
“The fentanyl killed him,” a source familiar with the investigation confirmed.
Aylor’s family has been informed of the preliminary toxicology results, which are part of an ongoing Charleston, S.C. police department probe. To be clear, investigators have found no evidence at this point suggesting Aylor was specifically targeted with a laced narcotic. Nor has anyone suggested he knowingly obtained fentanyl – or any other illegal drug – prior to his death.
Aylor, 41, was found dead at his Charleston residence on Lowndes Point Drive at approximately 12:15 a.m. EST on January 2, 2023. Preliminary reports from the scene suggested he succumbed hours earlier to some sort of pulmonary aspiration involving emesis.
As police try to determine what killed Aylor – a beloved member of the Charleston legal community – several “political sensitivities” have reportedly arisen in connection with the ongoing investigation.
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Among these “sensitivities?” How to handle follow-up interviews with several individuals reportedly on the scene when police arrived at Aylor’s home. One of the names on the interview list? S.C. circuit court judge Bentley Price.
A heavily redacted Charleston police report from the incident indicated three men – aged 43, 45 and 46 – were present at Aylor’s residence when first responders arrived. It is not clear whether one of those individuals was judge Price, but Lowcountry law enforcement sources have confirmed he is “being interviewed” in the aftermath of the toxicology results.
Price was one of the first people to arrive on the scene at Aylor’s home after police were called, sources have told this news outlet – and was reportedly with him the evening before he died. It is not immediately clear whether Price was at Aylor’s home when he died, however.
A political science graduate of the College of Charleston, Aylor put himself through law school at the University of South Carolina by working as a bartender at The Back Porch on Gervais Street in downtown Columbia, S.C.. Palmetto politicos are very familiar with this erstwhile establishment – which served as home base for the influential “Quinndom,” arguably the most powerful political empire the Palmetto State has ever seen.
In fact, Aylor briefly represented the patriarch of the “Quinndom” – veteran GOP strategist Richard Quinn– during the high-profile ProbeGate investigation into corruption at the S.C. State House.
The news about Aylor comes as Palmetto State law enforcement leaders are pushing hard for the S.C. General Assembly to pass a fentanyl trafficking statute. These leaders – including S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) chief Mark Keel – hope such a law will help them address a worsening epidemic of fentanyl overdoes.
“Law enforcement continues to see the deadly impacts of fentanyl on South Carolina families,” Keel told this news outlet back in October. “New legislation that holds violent traffickers accountable is needed to curb the increasing flow of fentanyl into communities across the state.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.
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15 comments
Why are we trying to outlaw fentanyl again? It seems to have the power to allow our system to clean itself up.
I hope your kids or grandkids get a bad batch.
Yours probably will before mine would. From the tone of your words I already know yours do not know better.
You are a hateful and sick person. If you have kids, which I doubt, they will do well to be normal growing up with an insensitive, ignorant and hateful parent like you.
Wow to the person who says fentanyl is cleaning up society. What a pompous ignorant heartless person you are. Fentanyl is a deliberate attack on our young people of the US by China and Mexico. Not to mention our inept government. No other country in the world is under attack like we are. It is a concerted effort to kill an entire generation. At one person every 9-11 minutes it’s like having a 9-11 disaster EVERY WEEK. Did those people deserve to die? Are our children who take a pill given to them by a friend to feel better deserve to die in minutes? I wouldn’t wish this life on anyone. Fentanyl is a WMD. You are an idiot.
Thanks for being a real news source and reporting the truth unlike anybody here in Charleston will. They will hide the truth about their good ole boys. Truth is we have drug users putting drug users in jail.
The audacity you have putting this out there is just really insensitive. Maybe you should think about others before yourself. Newsflash you’re not a writer for TMZ. This is Charleston not Hollywood. Maybe you should consider the friends and family of David. Why don’t you talk about the good he’s done in the community? Oh wait that’s because your articles are “unapologetic”.
I can’t believe my eyes read the name “David Aylor” in the same sentence as fentanyl. Have the police even interviewed friends and family and co-workers and employees and clients of his? Well I don’t buy it. Nor willl I ever believe it. I met David when I moved from Charleston to the upstate when I was just 5 years old. Far from perfect kids, we managed to stay friends up until his death. A friendship of 35 years. David was also my attorney of record in regards to charges that I unfortunately still have pending in the Upstate. But let me say this. David loved to be the center of attention. David loved a good beer or drink at Happy hour and sometimes too many more drinks followed. But trust me, coming from a Southern girl who knew him better than most, David hates drugs. He would sit at the bar in college and literally rip cigarettes from girls mouths because he thought it looked trashy and not to mention the physical effects smoking has on skin and lungs. He despised any substance, legal or illegal that altered the normal mental state. This guy never even tried marijuana! If it comes out that he knowingly ingested fentanyl-I would almost have to see a video of him doing it to believe it. I do not like to entertain the idea that something was done to David. But it’s looking like the media or our police dept are going to spin it that way. That despite his career and talent he to, succumbed to the opioid epidemic. And that is not the truth. If you knew David, you’d know that is a stretch.
Lindsay no offense but it certainly does not sound like you knew David at all.
Agreed.
What was JUDGE Bentley Price in the home? Is he appointed by the legislature? Who pays attention to the connection with judges, college trustees and lawyers? Yet again, the dots don’t line up…..no one reports on the connections…..
Rip buddy. You were a good man.
It’s not a hard story to piece together. It’s unfortunate though. Partying on New Years. Gets some blow which had fentanyl in it and it ends up killing him.
And the Judge price connection with this lawyer who died from drugs? Is this Shades of Murdaugh. Is he also buddies with Lawyer Dawes Cooke ? , who is connected to Citadel andcofc? ,oh yes, some trustees are relatives of the legislature…. Oh, yes….Dawes Cooke represented Murdaugh…..heck so many lawyers are connected and good old boys are protected.
RIP David. Eventually, hopefully, his legacy will represent all the good works he was involved with rather than the last moments. In reality no one knows all the facts and measures have been taken to ensure that, which sadly the “unknowns” have been assigned to David as bad “character traits”. Implications can skew whatever the “truth” might be given he is not here to defend himself.