Jonesboro Woman Believes She Was Drugged at Club After Fentanyl Test

JONESBORO, Ark. – When Savanna Perkins of Jonesboro planned a night out to celebrate her friend’s 21st birthday, she never expected it to turn into a nightmare.

Over one week later, Savanna is still trying to make sense of how she blacked out after two drinks. A positive test result for fentanyl has Savanna convinced someone attempted to drug her.

The alleged incident happened on Saturday, January 20 at the Midnight Rodeo, 2801 Fair Park Boulevard in Jonesboro. Savanna’s friend just turned 21 on January 2, she told NEA Report. They were going out for the friend to have her first drink and to maybe dance a little, too. Over the course of about two hours, Savanna said she drank two and a half drinks of whiskey and soda. She ended up spilling one of the drinks.

“I got my third drink and we went back to the dance floor,” Savanna told a reporter. “And that’s when I lost my memory. I don’t remember anything after that point until the next morning.”

It was almost instantaneous when the effect hit, she said. She was singing Taylor Swift and her head started spinning halfway through the song. That’s the last memory she had until she woke up the next morning.

Savanna ended up back at home after she said a man drove her car for her, unfortunately wrecking in the process. Her first memory is waking up the next day, confused as to how she got home and into her bed.

“It was honestly very traumatizing and embarrassing, because of how I was allegedly acting,” Savanna said. “I’m not a talkative person, at all, but I was apparently talking to everyone at the club that night, because I was impaired. I’ve been very depressed ever since it happened, really.”

Savanna works as a counselor at an opioid treatment facility, where they have drug testing kits. On Monday, January 22, she decided to perform one of the tests on herself. She ended up testing positive for fentanyl.

“My friend also blacked out, but she tested the same day I did and she didn’t come back [positive] for anything,” Savanna said.

The Midnight Rodeo sits empty on a Monday night in Jonesboro

Savanna believes her drink was spiked that night. She said she has never had an incident happen where she blacked out and lost her memory of the whole night. The incident has left her feeling so vulnerable, she says she is never going out again to another club.

“I’m too scared,” Savanna said. “I don’t think I’ll ever drink again, either. I have bad anxiety as it is.”

Savanna and her step-mom have made several posts to social media about the alleged incident, one of which went viral with over 1,000 shares in just a few days. She said she isn’t looking to bash the club or accuse them of wrong-doing. She said she just wants to raise awareness and prevent it from happening to someone else.

In the comments, multiple other women detailed alleged incidents at the same club where they believed their drinks were spiked. One of the women spoke on condition of anonymity to NEA Report, recalling she was sick for at least seven days after an incident where she and a friend, who also became sick, shared a drink at the location.

The owner of the Midnight Rodeo, Lane Rennicke, replied to almost every social media post made by the Perkins family in the past week about the topic. With each reply, he noted he could not locate a police report on the subject. Some current and former employees also replied with varying degrees of doubt at the allegations. Savanna told a reporter she didn’t feel like club ownership or staff approached her or her family in a respectful way, also mentioning in her viral post a “dismissive” attitude about her allegations.

On Monday, January 29, Rennicke issued a statement to NEA Report about the incident.

We have been made aware of the recent posts and have been working with law enforcement officials concerning this case. We take safety and security very seriously in an effort to provide a safe, secure venue for all of our customers.

On the evening of 01-20-24, there were four Jonesboro police officers working at Midnight Rodeo in an off-duty capacity to provide security, as well as 7 bouncers and 15 additional staff.

While I am unable to comment on this particular case until more facts are known, all of my staff have been made aware and instructed to immediately report any suspicious activity on the property.

– Lane Rennicke

The Craighead County Sheriff’s Office is conducting the investigation into the case, Chief Deputy Justin Rolland confirmed. NEA Report requested the incident report from the department and will update this story with details from it once made available.

NEA Report also submitted a request for any reports from the Jonesboro Police Department over the past twelve months, related to alleged drink tampering/spiking, at the Midnight Rodeo. JPD’s Public Information Specialist Sally Smith said there were no results for the search.