Family watched man battle for sobriety before he was found dead in Prescott Valley home
Suspected overdose remains under investigation

The stepfather of a 33-year-old man who was pronounced dead in his Prescott Valley home midday Wednesday, Dec. 5, has decided to share about the sudden death so the community may continue its battle against lethal drugs.

While it remains unconfirmed what exactly the cause of the death was, suspicion is centered on an opioid overdose of some kind.

Grant, whose last name is being withheld until it is officially released by police, had a history of opioid use, said Donn Moseley, his stepfather.

“He has battled a drug addiction problem for many years,” Moseley said. “The last six months — we thought — were his most productive, his most sober.”

But Grant often kept his addiction hidden from his family by living a seemingly normal life.

“Grant was well-raised and from a loving family,” Moseley said. “He was extremely intelligent. He was gainfully employed. He was a joy to be around. The thought of calling him a druggie is abhorrent to me. He is not one that you would categorize as that.”

The evening before Grant’s body was found, he had interacted with his sister, who shared the home with him along with her child and significant other. She told her family and law enforcement officials that there were no signs of him being depressed or struggling in any way, so the likelihood of suicide was out of the question, Mosely said.

“There is no consideration (it was a suicide) from the family’s standpoint, nor from the evidence that was found,” Mosely said.

Grant’s body was discovered in his room the next morning. The door had been locked, and he hadn’t responded to knocking or phone calls.

When police entered the room, they found drug paraphernalia and took several such items with them, Moseley said.

“The cause of death certainly does appear to be from an overdose,” he said.

Grant had admitted to using heroin in the past, but had assured his family that he had no intention of using life-threatening drugs again.

There was concern by the family, however, that Grant didn’t always know for sure what was in the drugs he was taking, because milder opioids acquired illegally have increasingly been getting laced with deadlier ones such as fentanyl.

“We have had no knowledge of any fentanyl being used in the past,” Moseley said. “That’s, of course, of great concern to the family that it could have infiltrated through what he was using.”

That question remains unanswered until medical examiners finish a toxicology report — the timing of which is uncertain.

Grant’s funeral is set to take place Saturday, Dec. 15. In the meantime, his family is simply processing his death.

“We are a grieving family, as the community grieves for many who have been lost to this horrific tragedy of these potent drugs that can take a life like this,” Mosely said. “We join with the community to fight (these drugs), and if our loss can benefit that, we will use Grant’s name to further the repelling of these type of drugs and drug use in the community.”


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