HARRISONBURG, VA (Rocktown Now) — A pair of Harrisonburg individuals responsible for distributing the fentanyl that led to the death of an 18-year-old high school student in 2023 were sentenced today in federal court.

According to a release from the Department of Justice, Bessy Jimenez Mejia, 27, of Harrisonburg was sentenced today to 15 years in federal prison. Jimenez Mejia previously admitted to being the source of supply for the fentanyl that ultimately killed Cayden Foster in 2023.

Liam Conaway, 24, also of Harrisonburg, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. Conaway previously admitted to obtaining the deadly fentanyl from Jimenez Mejia and providing it to Foster. 

In January 2023, Foster – who was at the time a high school student in Centreville, Virginia – reached out to Conaway, who was a student at James Madison University (JMU) to purchase pills. Conaway and Foster had reportedly previously consumed pills together during Conaway’s academic break from JMU.

On January 27, 2023, Foster sent Conaway $105 through Venmo to pay for the drugs. Conaway purchased approximately ten pills from his supplier, Jimenez Mejia, in Harrisonburg. The pills Conaway purchased from Jimenez Mejia were designed to appear as though they were 30 mg Percocet pills but were in fact counterfeit and contained fentanyl.

Two days later, a friend of Foster’s delivered three pills, sourced from Jimenez Mejia through Conaway in Harrisonburg to Foster in Northern Virginia.

On January 30, 2023, Foster consumed a portion of one of the pills purchased from Conaway. First responders arrived at Foster’s home the next morning and Foster was pronounced deceased from fentanyl poisoning.