Kenneth Law, who sold toxic chemical responsible for 131 deaths, sued by parents of Ontario teen

WARNING: This story contains disturbing details.

Two years after losing her only child, Maria Lopez says she draws strength from her necklace featuring a photo of 18-year-old Jeshennia.

“She was a charming girl… a joker, a good student, a good daughter, a good advisor,” Maria recalled. Jeshennia “was everything.”

The death of Jeshennia Bedoya Lopez, a recent high school graduate from Aurora, Ontario, is now at the center of a $2 million lawsuit filed by her parents. It is the first known civil case filed against Kenneth Law, a Toronto-area man who is facing criminal charges of murder and accessory to suicide in connection with 14 deaths in Ontario, including Jeshennia’s.

“We have always been a close family,” Jeshennia’s father Leonardo Bedoya said in an interview earlier this year. “Her loss hit us very hard.”

Maria and Leonardo are seeking damages from Law, as well as a Newmarket, Ontario, hospital and seven doctors who they say cared for their daughter before her death on Sept. 10, 2022, according to a summons seen by CBC News. The case was filed in Newmarket Superior Court earlier this month, exactly two years after Jeshennia’s death.

The parents allege that Law, 59, used an online store to sell Jeshennia a “suicide kit” containing a “toxic” chemical that she later ingested during a mental health crisis. “Law operated this online store for the primary purpose of aiding, abetting and/or facilitating suicide in vulnerable individuals such as Jeshennia,” the lawsuit says.

Police made similar allegations about Law when he was arrested in May 2023 by officers from Peel Region, west of Toronto.

Jeshennia’s parents also allege that a family doctor and several specialists failed to provide reasonable care “to prevent [her] loss of life” after she reported poor mental health and thoughts of suicide in 2020 and again in 2022. The Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket is also responsible “for the actions, errors and omissions” of its staff, the suit alleges.

No defense has been filed in the civil case to date. The allegations have not been proven in court.

“Our thoughts and sincere condolences are with the family and friends of Jeshennia Bedoya Lopez,” Derek Rowland, a hospital spokesperson, said in an email to CBC. “While we cannot provide details due to privacy concerns, patient care remains our top priority at Southlake.”

Law’s criminal defense attorney, Matthew Gourlay, declined to comment on the civil case. He has said his client will plead not guilty to the criminal charges.

Law told CBC before his arrest that the allegations surrounding him – at first reported by the British newspaper Times of London — have been “very, very painful for me.” He denied any wrongdoing.

Civil case may be easier to prove

Official statements, public documents and interviews with families suggest that Law’s products may be linked to at least 131 deaths worldwide, including in Italy, New Zealand and the US. The vast majority of these cases have been reported in Britain, where the National Crime Agency said it was investigating 97 deaths.

And there could be more, elsewhere. York Regional Police in Ontario said Law sent 1,200 packages to some 40 countries, and 160 to Canadian addresses.

Law is currently facing criminal charges only in Ontario. Police have filed 14 counts of first-degree murder and 14 counts of counselling or assisting in suicide, in connection with deaths in Toronto, Cambridge, London and elsewhere in the province.

Kenneth Law murder trial to begin in September 2025, families of alleged victims say

The families of alleged victims of suspected poison salesman Kenneth Law have told CBC News they have been warned that a murder trial will begin in September 2025. Law is accused of targeting vulnerable clients and selling a legal but potentially deadly substance and other suicide paraphernalia.

Suzanne Chiodo, a professor at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, pointed out that the burden of proof for establishing criminal guilt is higher than for civil liability.

“It’s usually a good thing when criminal liability is established and then you can pursue it much more easily in civil court,” Chido said in an interview. “It may not be an uphill battle to establish liability, but I think enforcing the judgment at the end of the day [would] “That could be a big problem,” since the suspect has been in custody since last year.

Law is due to appear in court in Newmarket on Friday, with the trial expected to formally begin in September 2025.

“I hope whoever caused all of this bears the full burden of the law,” Jeshennia’s mother, Maria Lopez, said earlier this year.

Jeshennia’s parents said she dreamed of one day becoming a police officer and had just finished high school three months before her death.

“We can’t save her anymore,” Lopez said, “because we can’t bring her back.”

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