Where Does Nestande Investigation Stand?

Brian Nestande Investigation Remains Ongoing

Nine months after an autopsy report showed that the cause of Brian Nestande’s death on March 6 was “multiple substance intoxication” (Fentanyl and cocaine), the investigation remains open, according to Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.

There are so many questions and if authorities have answers, they aren’t talking.

You can ask the same question a dozen different ways. No one is talking. That doesn’t mean they don’t know anything; they simply aren’t talking.

“While the death of Brian Nestande was ruled an overdose from fentanyl, it was suspicious in nature,” Bianco told Uken Report. “The case is still considered an active investigation being handled by our Overdose Death Investigation and Narcotic team.  As with any open death investigation, there is not a lot of information that can be shared with the public.”

To say the death was suspicious in nature is an understatement.

“Prior to the toxicology results there was nothing indicating anything other than a natural death,” Sheriff Chad Bianco told Uken Report at the time. “Based on what we know of fentanyl and how people die, it is definitely odd that we did not find any drugs or drug paraphernalia at the house.”

A couple of times in the report, the house was referred to as “clean.” No cocaine residue was found, which is atypical, begging the question, did someone clean it up before authorities got there?

The investigation is aimed at determining where and how the drugs were obtained and ingested, if at all possible, the sheriff said at the time.

“District Attorney Hestrin and I are leading the nation in our prosecution of fentanyl-related deaths,” Bianco said when the investigation was initially launched. “We treat them as poisonings and the person responsible for supplying the drug could be charged in the death.”

Each case is complex and different, and we cannot predict the time needed to complete the investigation, the sheriff said.