Mother accused of using kids to ‘mule’ fentanyl that killed boyfriend at Dallas Love Field
An Albuquerque mother who is accused of using her children to transport fentanyl that killed her boyfriend at Dallas Love Field has been charged with a federal drug crime, according to a news release.
U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad Meacham identified the suspect as Magdalena Silva Banuelos, 46, who was indicted on distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death.
Banuelos allegedly had concealed a deadly dose of fentanyl inside her children’s luggage when they arrived at Dallas Love Field in May. Banuelos and her children had lived in Albuquerque, and the kids took the flight to Dallas to visit their father.
The kids’ father, who was Banuelos’ boyfriend, picked the children up at the Dallas airport, walked into a bathroom and took the drug, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in the release.
A few minutes later, he overdosed and died in a restroom stall, just steps away from his sons, according to federal court documents.
“I feel for these children. To lose one parent due to the actions of the other is a calamity for a child,” Meacham said Tuesday in the release. “This defendant allegedly concealed fentanyl — a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin — in her own minor sons’ luggage. This drug has stolen too many futures and ruined too many lives. The Justice Department remains determined to hold accountable those who spread it.”
At detention hearing last week in New Mexico, Banuelos was ordered detained pending trial.
Federal authorities did not release the name of Banuelos’ boyfriend or information on the children.
The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Field Division and the Dallas Police Department conducted the investigation.
If convicted, she faces a maximum of life in a federal prison.
“This arrest and detention is yet another example of the devastation that fentanyl continues to reap on families throughout the country. The actions of Ms. Banuelos risked the lives of her minor children by concealing a highly potent drug in their luggage during a flight from Albuquerque to Dallas,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge W. Guy Baker of the DEA Dallas Field Division. “The DEA will continue to work side-by-side with our state and local partners in investigating drug-related poisonings and overdose deaths to hold those accountable for their actions.”
At the hearing last week, prosecutors revealed that Banuelos and her boyfriend were in an on-again, off-again relationship.
On May 31, she allegedly put the boys, ages 8 and 10, onto a flight from Albuquerque to Texas’ Dallas Love Field Airport to visit their dad, federal authorities said.
Surveillance video at the airport showed that the father picked up the boys from the gate, rifled through their luggage, and then entered the airport restroom at around 10:26 p.m.
He overdosed and died in a restroom stall.
From inside the stall, investigators recovered a Clinique brand makeup container containing more than a gram of fentanyl, according to federal court documents.
They also recovered text messages between Banuelos and her boyfriend, suggesting that she knew her boyfriend planned on ingesting the fentanyl and was aware of the risk it posed, federal authorities said.
“Hey you need to be careful,” she wrote a few hours before he died.
“Yes ma’am. Very slow and easy,” he replied.
“Just one and then wait you’ll see,” she said. “Just one.”
“Ok cool. Thank you. Will do,” he said.
“No passing out on the kitchen floor,” she responded. “Seriously you could OD. No dying on the kitchen floor…”
This story was originally published November 22, 2022 at 2:45 PM.
