A Mother’s Anguish

Lisa Burton sat in a third-floor federal courtroom in Greensboro on December 12, waiting for the chance to address the judge and Patrick Rowland, the Duke University student she blames, in part, for her daughter’s death nine months ago. 

In the early morning hours of March 9, paramedics found Elizabeth Grace Burton, a 19-year-old UNC-Chapel Hill student who went by her middle name, fully clothed but pale, sweaty and unconscious on Rowland’s bed in his Duke dorm room. 

Two hours earlier, the pair had used cocaine later determined to be laced with fentanyl. Rowland was the last person to see her awake. She never regained consciousness and was declared dead from a cardiac arrest at Duke University Hospital two days later. 

Rowland, 22, who had been a philosophy major at Duke before leaving the university last spring, was not charged in Grace’s death. But he did plead guilty to using a cellphone to facilitate the distribution of cocaine and marijuana. Rowland was sentenced to three months in prison and one year of probation, and ordered to pay a $2,500 fine. 

Burton bought the cocaine from Cye Frasier, a Durham dealer known as “The Barber.” Rowland was also a customer. Prosecutors said he bought drugs from Frasier and distributed them to his fellow Duke students. Investigators said they found 1,140 text exchanges between Rowland and Frasier. 

Frasier pleaded guilty in October to drug distribution that resulted in a young man’s death the day before Burton’s. Frasier’s girlfriend, Carlisa Allen, was found guilty of the same charges after a week-long trial in November covered by The Assembly. Neither Frasier nor Allen was charged in Burton’s death, even though Frasier was seen on surveillance cameras carrying Burton’s unconscious body to Rowland’s dorm room.

An autopsy concluded she died of alcohol, cocaine, and fentanyl toxicity. Neither Duke nor UNC said anything publicly about her death until The Assembly reported on the case in October. 

Lisa Burton and Patrick Rowland have crossed paths a few times in the last several months. Last month, she watched Rowland testify at Allen’s trial. At last week’s hearing, Burton clutched a framed photograph of her daughter, blonde and pretty, as she walked to the stand to testify. 

She told U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles that it took 80 minutes for someone to call 911. If someone had called sooner, Grace might still be alive, she said. 

From a legal standpoint, the hearing had nothing to do with Grace. But her death hung over the court proceeding like a dark, heavy fog. 

Just before he was sentenced, Rowland said he could feel the pain in the room. “What I’ve learned from this is that I want to be a stronger and better person,” he said. 

An Intense Head Rush

Rowland and Burton first met on Tinder, and agreed to meet in person a few weeks later. Just after midnight on March 9, Rowland picked her up in Chapel Hill and took her to Duke’s West Campus. 

At 4 a.m., Burton told Rowland she wanted to get cocaine, Rowland testified at Allen’s trial. She first called a dealer she knew, but he didn’t pick up. She eventually contacted Frasier, who came to campus to sell her the cocaine and then left. 

Rowland testified that he had bought cocaine from Frasier three times but he had never felt the way he did after he snorted it that day. He felt an intense head rush and dizziness. Then, he lost control of his body and spent the next 19 hours vomiting. 

His attorney, Emilia Beskind, said in court last week that Rowland didn’t realize that Burton had overdosed. They had sat down on a bench that dark, early morning, and it appeared she fell asleep. 

When Rowland realized something was wrong, he called Frasier, who came back to campus. Frasier carried Burton up to Rowland’s dorm room in the Kilgo quad. 

About an hour later, Rowland alerted another student and asked him to call paramedics. Rowland was visibly sick and out of it, his attorney said, but he did everything he could to get Burton help. 

The student who called 911 said he heard Rowland tell paramedics they used cocaine. That student, who asked not be named to discuss a sensitive matter, told The Assembly that paramedics asked the students to leave the room. Rowland appeared to be intoxicated or overcome with adrenaline or emotion, and threw up in a trash can several times.

A lawyer for the Burton family has said that Narcan, which can be used to reverse the effects of fentanyl, was not administered. Drug dealers sometimes add fentanyl to cocaine because it is cheaper and increases the potency. Buyers may not know it has been mixed in—and even a small amount can be fatal.

Lisa Burton did not use Rowland’s name in court, but it’s clear the Burton family blames him at least in part for Grace’s death. After Allen’s conviction, Lisa Burton’s brother, James Burton, sent a statement to The Assembly that referenced “this collegiate drug cartel.”

“The only way to curtail continued drug deaths on our college campuses is to prosecute all levels of operations including the campus level student-dealers who connect other students and resale from community dealers,” he wrote.

Frasier and Allen had been on the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s radar before the events of March 9. But not Rowland. Grace Burton’s death is what brought him to law enforcement’s attention and led to the charges against him, Beskind said in court last week. 

Why he ended up in court is more complicated. 

Rowland grew up in West Virginia, the son of two speech pathologists who pushed him to excel in academics and sports. 

And, his attorney said, he did. But it came at a cost. At Duke, he used weed as a way to cope with his anxiety. That led to his transactional relationship with Frasier, Beskind said. 

Drug use at Duke was rampant, and many students brushed off the dangers of cocaine, Beskind said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael DeFranco said his office interviewed at least a dozen college students, and he was shocked at how casual they were about drugs. 

Rowland faced a maximum of four years in prison, but probation officers recommended that he be sentenced to two years of probation. DeFranco said he didn’t object. But Judge Eagles worried about what kind of message that might send. 

She said that even though Rowland was not charged in Grace’s death, he should have known that the 7.5 grams of cocaine he distributed to Duke students over a seven-month period might contain fentanyl and that any of the students he sold to could have died. He was also accused of distributing 29 ounces of marijuana. 

“It’s a serious crime,” she said. 

DeFranco responded that the case has received extensive media coverage, and seeing someone their age die should be enough of a warning for young people. He also said Rowland should embrace this as an opportunity to tell others about the dangers of illicit drugs. 

Beskind said that Rowland has battled depression since Grace Burton’s death. Through counseling and therapy, he’s attempted to reconcile with what happened. He has taken full responsibility for his actions, she said, including cooperating with law enforcement. His future, including whether or not he returns to Duke, is uncertain.

Eagles then issued her sentence that included three months in prison. 

Rowland appeared to be stunned. He dashed out of the courtroom, his face flushed. He needed a minute, he muttered to his friends who waited outside the door as he brushed past them.

Rowland and his lawyer declined to comment for this article.

Immersed in Greek Life

Lisa Burton, 42, told the judge about how she’d been a senior in college when she learned she was pregnant with the baby she would call “Gracie.” Her boyfriend wanted her to get an abortion, but she said she loved her daughter the second she found out she was carrying her. 

After her child was born, Burton finished college and then graduate school, and became a neonatal nurse. She eventually made enough money for her and Gracie to move out of her parents’ home. 

Burton, who lives in Charlotte, rattled off her daughter’s accomplishments, including academic awards, a feature on an NPR podcast, the completion of over a dozen Advanced Placement courses, her appointment to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Youth Council to the Mayor, and stints as a server at a restaurant.

After graduating high school with a 4.0 GPA, Grace Burton enrolled at UNC to pursue a career in business. She completed her first semester at UNC with a 3.7 GPA and planned to study sustainable energy last summer.

“My child will never get to enjoy the life she worked tirelessly to build,” Burton said.

In her first semester, Grace immersed herself in Greek life, becoming a member of UNC’s Zeta Tau Alpha, a coveted sorority known for partying. 

Rowland was also in Greek life at Duke, but preferred nights in with friends. He smoked marijuana regularly, though, to cope with a rocky adjustment to the pandemic version of college, his attorney said. 

At both schools, drug use is common. At Allen’s trial, a half dozen current and former UNC and Duke students testified about buying drugs from Allen and Frasier. Sometimes Allen would pull her blue Toyota into UNC’s Fraternity Court or Pantana Bob’s in Chapel Hill to make a transaction; other times her car could be found on the Duke campus. 

Lisa Burton said she is still dealing with the aftermath of her only child’s death. Life no longer feels worth living. Never again, she said, would she hear her daughter pull into her driveway, blasting Korean pop music. Or see her hug her favorite stuffed animal. Or watch her enjoy spicy ramen.

At times, Lisa Burton said she’s been overwhelmed by thoughts of suicide. She said she checked herself into a mental institution at one point, where she stayed for eight days. That experience only traumatized her further. 

“Your dead daughter’s an angel!” a fellow patient sung repeatedly.

Burton does not know if she will be able to return to nursing, a job where she helps families welcome new babies into the world.

“My daughter was given a death sentence,” she said. “I was given a life sentence.”

As she walked off the stand, Burton clung to her daughter’s picture. She wanted everyone to see her daughter as she once was—smiling, alive, accomplished, a life of promise ahead. 

Charlotte Kramon, a Duke University senior from Los Angeles, worked for the Los Angeles Times last summer and reports for The Ninth Street Journal. Her email is charlotte.kramon@duke.edu.

Michael Hewlett is a staff reporter at The Assembly. He was previously the legal affairs reporter at the Winston-Salem Journal. You can reach him at michael@theassemblync.com.