A Tennessee family is warning the public not to take drugs after Tracy Marler, 35, died of a fentanyl overdose after ingesting lace-laced oxycodone.
According to police in Jonesboro, Arkansas, Marler found died Randy Joe Coker, 38, was arrested inside the vehicle on March 5 and charged with aggravated childbirth resulting in death, WREG reported.
Text messages reviewed by investigators show that Marler is suspected of paying Coker for oxycodone, a severe painkiller commonly spiked with fentanyl.
Police said Coker waited two hours after her death to call 911, claiming he wasn’t with her when she overdosed.
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However, witnesses told police that Coker and Marler were in the car when they died and that the suspect took green and blue “rock candy” from the victim’s wallet before calling police. He said he witnessed it being taken out.
The suspected drug dealer is currently being held in the Craighead County Jail on $3 million bail.
Rhonda Craig the day before her daughter’s funeral called for justice He spoke in an interview with a local Memphis station.
“I really hope other people will get in the car with her because they didn’t do anything to save her,” she told WREG. “They didn’t try to get her help, they didn’t call for help.”
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Marler began buying drugs after recently losing his job as a technician at St. Jude Children’s Hospital, his grieving mother said. The overdose victim was also suffering from the loss of her grandmother and best friend at the time of her death.
“I’ve been telling people, if you know someone who’s taking pills, please tell them to stop doing it because this fentanyl is out there and it’s killing people.” Craig said.
She said her daughter and the alleged killer were friends and that Mahler had even helped her settle into her new apartment.
Craig asked for the maximum sentence for the man: life in prison.
“I don’t care if she paid him for the drugs or not. I think my dad knew it was covered in something and let her have it,” Sadden says. said the mother who was dying.
Mahler’s cousin, Sarah Hinkson Said According to KAIT8, her relatives were trying to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a mother when she passed away.
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“She had already started the IVF process. I think she was planning to start that process within the next two months,” Hinkson said.
Coker’s “death by childbirth” charge was part of a recent Arkansas law targeting fentanyl traffickers.
law 584 took effect In August 2023, it handed penalties ranging from 20 years to life in prison for drug dealers who caused fatal overdoses with fentanyl-laced products.
Sonia Hagood, prosecuting attorney for Arkansas’ 2nd Judicial District, told local media that this is the first time the district has been able to indict someone on new charges.
“Others, we are still investigating. So we expect to see more of this particular charge in the future,” she said.
Jonesboro police said the investigation was still ongoing as of Thursday.
As the fentanyl crisis spreads across the United States, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has criticized the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ongoing efforts to “target, influence, and infiltrate every sector and community.” has launched a “government-wide” investigation into attempts to “introduce people to the United States”. US. ”
The study was inspired by Peter Schweitzer’s latest book. Blood Money: Why those in power turn a blind eye while China kills Americans. This research article was released just one week ago. new york times His book, which delves deep into the Chinese Communist Party’s involvement in a fentanyl ring that kills American citizens, made the bestseller list.
