Justice for Denis
On the night of March 18, 2019, my son Denis Preka walked into the home of someone he trusted someone he called his best friend, Paul Wiedmaier planning to study for a test the next day. He never came home.
Denis entered that house alive, full of dreams, laughter, and hope. The next morning, he was carried out his life stolen in the cruelest way imaginable.
What should have been a night of studying turned into a nightmare of betrayal.
Paul invited two others Nicholas Remington, a known drug dealer, and Connor Gibaratz.
Paul said Denis asked for Adderall to stay awake and study, Paul said he didn’t have any.
But behind Denis’s back, they made a horrifying decision to give him MDMA (Molly) and MDA instead. At 11:07 p.m., Denis searched on Google: “side effects of Adderall.”
He had no idea what he had just been given.
Hours later, videos found on Snapchat showed Denis suffering confused, terrified, struggling to breathe while those around him laughed, filmed, and mocked his pain.
The last video, posted at 1:50 a.m., was captioned “It’s watering time!”
In it, they threw water on his barely conscious body.
The medical examiner later confirmed what no parent should ever hear: Denis died from MDMA intoxication, with levels more than 80 times the fatal dose.
His suffering would have lasted minutes, not hours, after that final video. Yet no one called for help. Instead, they chose to hide what they had done.
Police later recovered Snapchat messages proof that they admitted to giving him the pills, proof that they knew what happened, and proof that they cared more about protecting themselves than saving Denis’s life.
No words can describe the pain of losing a child especially in such a senseless, heartless way. No parent should ever have to receive that call.
No one should ever have to watch their child’s last moments turned into a cruel joke online. To every parent reading this: hold your children close. Tell them you love them.
Don’t wait for “tomorrow” because sometimes, tomorrow never comes.
To every young person: choose your friends wisely. True friends protect you. They stand by you. They don’t poison you. They don’t laugh while you suffer. Evil doesn’t always come with warning signs sometimes, it hides behind a friendly smile. But Denis’s story can still make a difference. His voice may have been silenced, but his story will not be.
If we listen, if we care, if we demand justice maybe another life can be saved.
Justice for Denis. I will never stop fighting for you my angel.
Mommy #lovelikedenis