Authorities have launched an overdose investigation in San Bernardino after a Montebello man attending a music festival died over the weekend.
Eli Gillespie-Rodriguez, 27, attended the Nocturnal Wonderland music festival, held at Glen Helen Regional Park from Sept. 16 to Sept. 18, when at some point he died.
The circumstances leading up to the death are still unclear and friends and family are desperately searching for answers, calling upon local law enforcement to assist them in finding closure.
The man’s mother, Marcellina Rodriguez, is now hopeful that no other mother will have to feel the pain she feels after her son’s death.
“I don’t want anybody else’s mothers to suffer,” she said, fighting back tears. “It’s unnecessary.”
According to friends of Eli, he was camping at the festival when he entered a tent with some friends from high school to smoke marijuana. Moments later, he was dead, left alone by the other people inside of the tent.
His mother and childhood friend, Gabriel Noriega, believe that the marijuana was laced with some sort of powerful drug.
“This is heartbreaking for me, because I wanted to grow with my friend,” said Noriega.
After he was found dead, Eli was rushed to San Bernardino Community Hospital, where according to Rodriguez, she was unable to see her son, claiming he might have been contaminated or contagious.
“I’m the mom and I should have been able to saw my son,” she said. “I don’t care how he passed away he’s still my son.”
According to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, they received an extensive number of emergency calls throughout the weekend in regards to the festival, with one reported death.
