Daisy Joy Bankofier and Katrina Joy hold the portraits of Adam and Clifford Joy in Minden on Thursday.
Photo by Kurt Hildebrand.
The deaths of four people at a South Lake Tahoe Super Bowl party that included two brothers with Carson Valley ties remains under investigation 13 months later.
The El Dorado District Attorney’s office told the Tahoe Daily Tribune that it can provide no public updates in the deaths of Clifford and Adam Joy, who perished after being poisoned with fentanyl-spiked cocaine, along with Abraham Lemus and Keely Pereira.
The brothers’ mother, Minden resident Daisy Joy Bankofier, said she talked to a South Lake Tahoe detective in early February who confirmed there is still an active investigation.
“The detective assured me the investigation was in full swing but could not tell me when there would be charges against anyone because the case they were building,” she told The R-C by text on Feb. 19.
She said the detective told her that the entire department is working on the case.
“My heart aches every day for the loss of our loved ones that continue to be poisoned (murdered) by people who deal in this drug — especially to the unknowing,” she said on Tuesday.
The four were found on Feb. 12, 2024, by Clifford Joy’s wife, Katrina.
They’d obtained the cocaine the night before and Katrina described the scene in a Feb. 22 interview with The R-C.
“Toward the end of the night, they decided to pick up a bag of cocaine,” Katrina said. “I had fallen asleep while they were gone.”
When she woke up the next morning on Feb. 12 she found Pereira down and started CPR. That’s when she saw that her husband had also succumbed.
A bag of white powder was still sitting on the table, she said.
“That’s what they bought, obviously, and was still completely full,” she said. “The officer grabbed it right away and tested it and said it had almost 20 percent fentanyl. I’m a nurse, so I know you can’t come back from that.”
Both women said none of the people in the house were regular users.
Last year, residents held a vigil for those who died in a drug-related incident after the Super Bowl. Abraham Lemus, Keely Pereira, Clifford Joy, and Adam Joy had taken cocaine that was laced with fentanyl.
The El Dorado District Attorney’s office told the Tribune that the investigation was still ongoing and had no publicly available updates.
California has been prosecuting drug dealers who sold fentanyl resulting in death for murder.
On Dec. 5, 2024, a man was sentenced in Placer County to 20 years to life for second-degree murder in the 2021 fentanyl death of a Roseville man.
A 63-percent surge in fatal fentanyl overdoses over the prior 14 months prompted Alpine County Sheriff Tom Minder to declare an emergency, which was ratified by Alpine County supervisors on Sept. 30.
In recognition of the significant impact of the opioid crisis, $343,000 in settlement money will go to the Washoe Hung-A-Lel-Ti Community in Woodfords.
The surge primarily affected the Washoe community, including several near-fatal overdoses, and have overwhelmed local emergency services, public health resources, and law enforcement, according to the declaration.
Tahoe Daily Tribune reporter Eli Ramos contributed to this story.