Man sentenced to 117 months for involvement in teenage mother’s overdose death
A man has been sentenced to serve just under 10 years in prison for his role in the overdose death of a 17-year-old Wichita girl last year.
Samuel Gonzalez Jr., 19, was initially charged with distribution of a controlled substance causing death after his girlfriend, 17-year-old Adianna Perales, was found unresponsive from an overdose in her bedroom closet. He pleaded guilty in September to unintentional but reckless second-degree murder.
On Friday, Gonzalez was sentenced to 117 months followed by 36 months of post-release supervision, a Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman said.
The sentencing capped a case that began on Sept. 13, 2024, when investigators were called to Perales’ family home in northwest Wichita and found her unconscious and not breathing, according to court documents.
Perales was transported to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead. She had delivered her daughter five months earlier in the same hospital.
An autopsy determined Perales died from fentanyl toxicity. Delta-9 THC was also found in her system.
According to court documents, Gonzalez and Perales had been dating since June of 2024 but had recently discussed breaking up because Gonzalez “needed some space from her” and her infant daughter. Despite that, phone records show the two exchanged text messages and phone calls throughout the night before Perales died — beginning just before midnight on Sept. 12 and ending just after 4 a.m. on Sept. 13.
At 11:29 p.m., court documents outline, Gonzalez asked Perales if she was OK and told her “Your scaring me.” Perales responded, “I’m sorry I said I’ll be back babe and haven’t even done it.” Twenty-one minutes later, Perales added, “Idk why u getting scard rn baby I haven’t even took it yet.”
The pair exchanged multiple phone calls, lasting from a few minutes to more than an hour, with several missed calls in between. Perales’ last outgoing text message to Gonzalez, sent at 2:42 a.m., read, “I’m (expletive) bro.” She also sent two videos to Gonzalez, the affidavit described, the last of which was sent at 4:08 a.m.
Between 4:35 and 7:02 a.m., Gonzalez attempted to contact Perales 57 times by call or text, “checking on Adianna’s welfare and pleading with her to respond” until she was discovered unresponsive by a family member just before 7 a.m.
At the scene of the fatal overdose, police recovered prescription pills, more than 20 vape pens and cut straws that tested positive for cocaine residue. They also found burnt and wrapped foil — including some tucked inside a Wesley Medical Center “Newborn Welcome Kit” — that tested positive for fentanyl residue and anilino-N-phenethylpiperidine, a fentanyl precursor.
Gonzalez arrived at the home later that morning — something he typically did not do, a relative told police — and was “extremely upset and cried profusely,” court documents described. He told police Perales “does not do drugs other than marijuana” and that he either provided her with marijuana or helped her obtain it when she asked.
But a search of Perales’ phone revealed messages between the two using terms such as “foil,” “percs,” “pills,” “pilas,” “powder,” “fent,” and “fetty” to refer to fentanyl. According to the affidavit, every conversation containing those words since June 16, 2024, was with Gonzalez.
A relative of Perales’ also told police that a few months prior, Adianna confessed that she had taken a fentanyl pill from one of Gonzalez’s drawers. She said “if Adianna took or did anything it would be because of Gonzalez.”
Gonzalez told police he, Perales and a friend had smoked a marijuana blunt together the day before she died, adding that he intended for it to be the “last time” he gave her weed. He denied supplying her with any other drugs.
Gonzalez will immediately begin serving his 117-month sentence at the Kansas Department of Corrections. After his release, he will be subject to 36 months of post-release supervision and required to register as a felony offender.
This story was originally published November 22, 2025 at 3:17 PM.
