Prosecutor: Cathedral City man arranged for sale of fentanyl that killed 22-year-old

INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) - A 22-year-old Rancho Mirage man consumed a fatal dose of fentanyl that his friend helped him procure, a prosecutor said today, while the attorney for the accused countered that his client only aided in facilitating a transaction and "did not murder anybody."

Riley Jacob Hagar, 28, of Cathedral City, is charged with second-degree murder for the death of Travis O'Brien on New Year's Day 2022.   

"Travis O'Brien checked into a Motel 6 and never checked out,'' Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Steven Sorensen told jurors Tuesday during his opening statement in Hagar's trial at the Larson Justice Center in Indio. "Where did O'Brien get these pills (that killed him)?"

The prosecutor pointed the finger of blame at Hagar, a longtime acquaintance of the victim.  

Sorensen contended Hagar "is guilty of the charge of murder'' stemming from O'Brien's "acute fentanyl intoxication" death.

Defense attorney Ryan Markson challenged the prosecution's narrative, rejecting the allegation that his client had a hand in the loss of O'Brien's life.

"Riley Hagar didn't murder anybody,'' Markson told jurors.   

He noted O'Brien was desperate for money at the end of 2021 and was trying to unload 200 M30 "blues'' containing the synthetic opioid fentanyl, but he couldn't find a buyer.

Hagar was in contact with a known supplier, Nicholas Rodriguez, who goes by the moniker "Niko," and arranged on New Year's Eve for the latter to buy some of O'Brien's pills, according to the defense.   

The attorney said his client had cautioned O'Brien not to take any of the pills, a few of which Niko purchased.   

At some point just before or after the transaction, O'Brien digested the fentanyl that led to his death, according to court papers.   

Hagar, who is being held without bail at the Benoit Detention Center, was arrested in August 2022, following a months-long investigation by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department's Overdose Death Investigations Unit.   

Sgt. Ryan Marcuse said that on the afternoon of Jan. 1, 2022, deputies were called to the Motel 6 in the 69000 block of Highway 111, where the young man was discovered unconscious and presumed dead. Paramedics arrived a short time later and confirmed he'd died at the scene. The autopsy pointed to fentanyl poisoning.  

Hagar has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.   

Since February 2021, prosecutors have charged more than three dozen people in connection with fentanyl poisonings. Two prosecutions have resulted in murder convictions.  

Preliminary public health statistics indicated there were 229 suspected fentanyl-related fatalities countywide in 2025, compared to 351 confirmed poisonings in 2024, a roughly 40% decline.

Fentanyl is manufactured in overseas labs, principally in China, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which says the opioid is smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border by cartels.

It's 80-100 times more potent than morphine and can be mixed into any number of street narcotics and prescription drugs, without a recipient knowing what he or she is consuming. Ingestion of only two milligrams can be fatal.