A Harris County father is facing sexual assault and murder charges after investigators say he gave his daughter and her friend fentanyl on Thanksgiving Day.
Joshua Youngblood, 45, has been arrested and charged in connection with his daughter’s fentanyl-related death and the sexual assault of her friend. Investigators say Youngblood gave both women the deadly dose inside his home on Thanksgiving Day 2023.
According to authorities, while his daughter, 28-year-old Jade Youngblood, was dying from fentanyl poisoning, he sexually assaulted her friend, who was also under the influence at the time.
Federal and local officials held a news conference Tuesday to announce the charges, which include murder and aggravated sexual assault.
The joint press conference included officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Houston Division, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
“The facts of this investigation are appalling because the suspect is not a stranger, but rather the victim’s father,” said Will Kimball, Acting Special Agent in Charge of DEA Houston. “On Thanksgiving Day, a day where most families get together to give thanks, Youngblood had other plans.”
Jade’s mother, Bernice Hawkins, spoke publicly about the loss of her daughter, describing her as a joyful, loving person who wanted to keep her family together.
“She was a light to everybody. She loved everybody. She wanted family to be family,” Hawkins said. “That day, when her life was taken — anyone who knows Jade, you know the joy that she brought.”
The case marks one of the first times Harris County prosecutors have pursued a murder charge under a 2023 amendment to the Texas Penal Code, which allows for murder charges in fentanyl-related deaths.
“This is exactly why the legislature in 2023 gave us the amendment to 19.02B of the Texas Penal Code,” said Chandler Raine, First Assistant District Attorney for Harris County. “To allow us to go after individuals and to charge them not with delivery causing death, but with murder when individuals make the knowing choice of delivering fentanyl.”
DEA officials say fentanyl remains a widespread and deadly threat.
“We still see a significant amount of fentanyl being transited across the U.S.-Mexican border,” Kimball said. “The cartels are still producing fentanyl at a high rate. And unfortunately, in our communities, there’s very few places that you can’t find fentanyl.”
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said it remains committed to pursuing cases like this.
“We are all collaborating, we’re all cooperating,” Chief Deputy Tommy Diaz said. “We’re going to prosecute these cases through the district attorney’s office or whatever conduit we have. We’re dedicated to keeping the county safe.”
Youngblood remains in custody as the case moves forward.
What happened?
Deputies responded to Jade Youngblood’s apartment in Alief on November 23, 2023, where she was found unresponsive in her bedroom. A friend was also discovered in the bathtub, suffering from a suspected overdose. Paramedics pronounced Jade dead at the scene just after 5 a.m., and her friend was revived with Narcan.
Court documents detailed conflicting accounts. Youngblood told investigators he arrived at his daughter’s home around 10 p.m., drank with her and her friends, then fell asleep. He claimed he woke up to find her unresponsive hours later.
However, the surviving friend alleged that Youngblood brought drugs into the apartment, including marijuana and suspected cocaine and PCP. The autopsy revealed Jade died from a combination of fentanyl, alprazolam, and ethanol.
The friend later told authorities she woke up in the bathtub with her clothing disheveled and suspected she’d been sexually assaulted. She sought a medical exam at Ben Taub Hospital.
Youngblood denied supplying drugs and maintained he warned his daughter against Xanax use. He remains jailed on a $150,000 bond.
