Dad wants son's death to stand as a warning
Tyler Gestl `was a normal kid,' yet he was claimed by plague of drug crisis
Aaron Gestl rarely got coffee for his coffee-loving son, Tyler, because with five children under his roof, “If I get one kid something,” Gestl said, “I’ve got to get something for all of them.”
But late last month, Gestl bought his 16-year-old boy a cup.
“I walk into his room, early in the morning, it’s Saturday, everyone’s sleeping, the baby’s sleeping,” Gestl recalled, “and I go into his room, put it on his desk and the look on his face of surprise.”
“God, Dad,” Gestl recounted his son responding. “That was so sweet. I love you. Thank you.”
While not the last words Upland High School junior Tyler Gestl would say to his father, “I’ll never forget the way he told me,” Aaron Gestl said in a recent interview.
“Unfortunately, that was probably the last time we said ‘I love you.’”
Tyler Gestl died the following Sunday, Jan. 29, of an apparent fentanyl overdose.
Fentanyl, a painkiller that can be prescribed legally, has become the No. 1 killer of adults ages 18 to 45, local law enforcement officials have said. More than 71,000 people in the United States died from fentanyl overdoses in 2021, Assistant U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said.
“Tyler was a normal kid,” Aaron Gestl said. “Normal to the extent there were no warning signs. Tyler was your average kid, just focused on his schooling. He had friends. He had no behavioral issues.
“He was a good kid.”
Weeks removed from finding his teenage son unresponsive in his bedroom that late January morning, Gestl doesn’t want his boy to become another statistic.
“It’s important to know who Tyler was as a human,” he said.
Always the first to lend a hand around the house, Tyler Gestl was the kind of kid to step up in moments of need.
While some students struggled
with schoolwork during the coronavirus pandemic, Gestl’s academics improved, his father said.
The teen was a borderline straight-A student who lifted weights six days a week for sport and crafted his own meal plans.
“We’d have to buy him certain things,” Aaron Gestl said of his vegetarian son. “And they’re expensive, but we did it because we knew it was important to him.
“He became a little Hulk.”
The kid was disciplined, Gestl added. Conscious about what he put into his body.
Which makes his death all the more confounding to his parents, who have no idea where or how he obtained the drug.
“I feel like he had everything a kid would need,” Aaron Gestl said. “We had open dialogues. We talked about everything. Talked about sex, drugs, college. There was always a lot of messaging. I tend to preach to my kids the importance of the traditional values of safe sex, not using drugs, how that stuff leads to a tough adult life, and how you don’t want that for yourself, and if you have kids, you don’t want that for your kids.”
The Gestls conducted occasional sweeps of their kids’ rooms — striking the delicate balance between giving their children privacy and keeping them safe.
Aaron Gestl, 45, and his wife never hesitated to show their kids how much they loved them.
“We’re very affectionate parents,” Gestl said. “(Tyler) was always reciprocal. He had such a big heart. Was such a loving kid.”
If an everyday teen like Tyler can die of a fentanyl overdose, his father said, anyone can.
“Looking back, being somebody who had to deal with this, I think we need to do more” as parents, Aaron Gestl said. “Stop thinking, It ain’t going to happen to me. The numbers are too staggering.
“This is plaguing our country.”
The Gestls have been overwhelmed with well wishes and support in the wake of their son’s death.
The past few weeks, Aaron Gestl has spoken to Upland parents and others about the dangers associated with drug use. He has also written local and state politicians to try and light a fire under lawmakers to bring about tangible change related to drug awareness.
Gestl’s worst fear is seeing Tyler die in vain. “I don’t want this fire to end,” he said. “I can’t allow people to dissuade me or change the narrative because (the fentanyl crisis) is only going to get worse.”
The Gestls intend to sell their North Fontana house and move elsewhere following their son’s death.
A funeral is planned for later this month. Tyler Gestl will be cremated.
“Tyler had a normal life,” his father said. “He didn’t want anything. He had everything.”