Closure for many: Mac Miller’s killer set to sit trial
Alyssa Bunde
Staff Writer
The Drug Enforcement Administration, also known as the DEA, released a press release stating they arrested 23-year-old Cameron James Pettit Wednesday, Sept. 4 on federal charges of selling counterfeit pills to rapper Mac Miller.
As a longtime Mac Miller fan, I was immediately interested in these charges. Naively I wanted to read these police reports and find my favorite artiste somehow not mixed in with all these drugs, maybe a murder instead or a long-winded conspiracy theory of Trump doing it after he blocked Miller on Twitter.
As if any of that would have made it even remotely better. Sadly, I found none of this.
Reading the reports left a sour taste in my mouth and a realization of how bad Miller’s addiction was.
Mac Miller discussed his drug addiction a plethora of times in almost all of his albums, especially so in “Swimming”, an album in which he focuses on his faltering mental state which he attributes in no small part to his addiction.
Rolling Stones reported that he had frequent slip-ups, and his most recent one before his death had occurred only three days prior. From my perspective it seems may be Miller hadn’t ever quit at all, not from a lack of effort but more so because he simply couldn’t.
Cameron Pettit could face up to 20 years in federal prison for his involvement in Miller’s death. Two days before Miller’s death, Pettit sold various pills and narcotics ranging from cocaine, oxycodone, and Xanax to the late artiste.
Among those were counterfeit Oxycodone pills that contained Fentanyl, which were later deemed the cause of Mac Miller’s death. The New York Times explains that a synthetic opiate is estimated to be over 50 times as powerful as heroin.
Interestingly, it was found that Pettit wasn’t the only one who sold to Miller.
After an hour of text messages between Miller and Pettit, Pettit failed to respond to Miller’s texts asking where he was. Due to this, Miller contacted a dealer referred to as Johansson to purchase pills and even a $700 sex worker. After this transaction, Pettit responded at 2:02 a.m., delivering to Miller at 2:25 a.m.
The police report explains that they believe the pills found at Mac’s house were a combination of purchases from Pettit and Johansson, but it’s believed the counterfeit pills came from Pettit.
According to TMZ, the late rapper’s ex Ariana Grande thinks the dealer should be facing “stricter consequences for taking advantage of someone with an addiction issue.”
As for myself, perhaps one of the more shocking details from the police report was the purchase of a sex worker.
It’s crazy to me that Mac Miller even needed to buy sex or whatever he hired her to do for him. The man is famous!
Ultimately even with the drug abuse and these new facts it doesn’t downgrade my appreciation for Miller. However, it has made me re-listen to his music and hear the truth he was shouting at us. I sadly assumed, like many others, Mac was going to be fine.
Until he wasn’t.
Pettit’s arraignment is currently scheduled for Friday, Oct. 11.
Header photo courtesy of Mac Miller’s Facebook page.