Gwinnett County

Parents share emotional story of childhood friends who overdosed within hours

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Parents of two Gwinnett County teenagers are warning others about the fast and easy way kids are getting their hands on powerful drugs.

Earlier this year, 18-year-old Dustin Manning and 19-year-old Joseph Abraham died just hours apart.

Manning and Abraham were Little League teammates and knew each other when they were younger.

Their parents said they hadn’t been in touch in years, but their lives took similar paths.

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Both men started using drugs in middle school, and they both spent time in drug treatment centers.
It was only after they died that their lives connected again.

“I never thought that I’d never get to see him grow old,” Joe Abraham’s mother, Kathi Abraham, said.

Their parents believe they bought the same toxic mix of heroin and fentanyl. Police said it appears the teens bought the drugs from the same dealer.

“They said it happened within 20-30 seconds after he sniffed it, he was gone,” Dustin Manning’s mother, Lisa Manning, said.