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Robert De Niro to be seen at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2023.
CNN –
A woman has been arrested in connection with the death of Robert De Niro’s grandson, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN on Friday.
According to an announcement by his mother Drena on social media earlier this month, Leandro De Niro Rodriguez has died at the age of 19. No cause of death was given.
The law enforcement source told CNN that a woman named Sofia Marks has been taken into custody for selling drugs to minors. Marks has not been charged with murder, the source said. The source said the arrest was for “probable cause” and the investigation is ongoing. CNN is trying to find legal representation for Marks.
The Southern District of New York has taken over the case, the source said.
After her initial post announcing the death of her son Leandro, Drena de Niro later said in the comments section of the post, “Someone sold him fentanyl spiked pills that they knew had fentanyl spiked in them and they sold him sold anyway so fuck all these people If I sell and buy this shit my son is gone forever.”
According to a recent report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 70,000 people died from fentanyl drug overdoses in the US in 2021, a nearly four-fold increase in five years. By 2021, about two-thirds of all overdose deaths will be attributed to the powerful synthetic opioid, it says.
At the time of Leandro De Niro’s death, his grandfather Robert De Niro expressed his sadness at the loss in a statement to CNN:
“I am deeply saddened by the passing of my beloved grandson Leo. We really appreciate everyone’s condolences. We ask that we have privacy so that we can grieve the loss of Leo.”