Dallas County Jail inmate faces murder charge after possible fentanyl overdose kills fellow inmate, report says

CBS News

3 days ago

An inmate at the Dallas County Jail is facing a murder charge after an incident that sent her and three other inmates to the hospital.
On Sunday, July 13, investigators said four inmates were taken to Parkland Hospital for a possible overdose. One of the four inmates, 21-year-old Quinnetta Brinkley, died.
Just before 8:30 p.m. on July 13, detention officers were conducting "face-to-face" security when several inmates contacted one of the officers to say fellow inmate, 21-year-old Quinnetta Arian Brinkley, was "not moving."
The officer found Brinkley lying on the bottom bunk and another inmate, later identified as Cheyanna Mather, 21, was lying on the floor. The report states that both women were unresponsive. As they were being evaluated, several inmates in a different block "began banging on the window," and stated that there were two other inmates who looked like they were about to pass out, according to the affidavit.
Those inmates told officers that the "Hispanic girl," later identified as Daisy Zuniga, brought fentanyl with her into the jail, the report states.
Zuniga and one of the inmates who witnessed the incident were searched and it was determined both needed medical attention, according to the affidavit.
The report states that while at the nurses' station, Zuniga "fell on the floor and started to convulse and vomit." When asked what she took, she replied "fentanyl and bars," according to the affidavit.
All four inmates were taken to the hospital by ambulance for fentanyl overdoses.
Just before 9:30 p.m., Brinkley was pronounced dead.
Several investigators searched the "tank," and a detective found a blue baggy containing a white substance that a field test determined to be fentanyl.
Detectives interviewed another inmate who witnessed the incident and said Zuniga had Xanax bars, or "ice," and fentanyl and gave it to the two other hospitalized inmates and Brinkley. That inmate reportedly told the detectives the four women ingested the drugs "once between lunch and dinner, then after dinner, and that was when the victim became unresponsive."
Another inmate who witnessed the incident told a similar story; however, she did not see the second time the group reportedly ingested the drugs.
After being released from the hospital and returned to jail, Zuniga was interviewed by detectives. She reportedly told them that she hid the plastic baggy on herself when Dallas police approached her for trespassing on July 11. Zuniga said she made it through the X-ray scanner and a strip search without the drugs being detected, according to the report. Detectives said she also told them that she "shared" the drugs with the three other inmates.
Investigators said when Zuniga was first arrested on July 11 for trespassing, she was found in possession of cocaine.
Zuniga is now charged in connection with Brinkley's death.