4 days ago
Suspect in cellmate's death allegedly supplied drugs that killed OK County jail inmate
A 35-year-old woman is accused of first-degree murder after allegedly supplying the drugs that killed her cellmate in March at the Oklahoma County Detention Center.
The suspect was housed at the jail during the time of the former inmate's death, according to a news release from the detention center. Investigators believe the suspect supplied the contraband that led to Michelle Young's death on March 17, one day before her birthday.
'This arrest serves as a reminder of the grave risk illicit drugs present within our facility," said Paul Timmons, interim CEO of the Oklahoma County Detention Center.
The suspect was released from the detention center on March 16 and is accused of being in possession of methamphetamine and fentanyl in the jail, according to the arrest affidavit by investigator Gaven Fields. She shared a cell with Young, who stayed in that cell after the suspect was released the night of March 16.
Young was found unresponsive in her cell at 3:50 a.m. the following morning and was pronounced dead at a hospital about an hour later, according to the affidavit.
On Thursday, July 10, the suspect was brought back into the detention center by a bondsman and was stopped at the body scanner. The affidavit alleges she had foreign objects lodged inside her body.
Fields said in the affidavit that he recognized her name and remembered that several inmates alleged the suspect gave Young fentanyl before she was found unresponsive. The suspect allegedly told Fields in an interview that she gave Young the narcotics, according to the affidavit.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Woman accused of murder in cellmate's death at Oklahoma County jail
