HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 07-14 Maplewood woman now charged with 3 murders in west metro overdoses STAR TRIBUNE7/14/2016
Maplewood woman now charged with 3 murders in west metro overdoses - StarTribune.com
WEST METRO
Maplewood woman now charged with 3
murders in west metro overdoses
The deaths occurred less than seven months apart.
By Paul Walsh Star Tribune JULY 14, 2016 — 8:03AM
A suspected drug dealer who used a Minneapolis restaurant as a meetup spot now
stands charged with murder for three overdose deaths in less than seven months in the
west metro.
Beverly N. Burrell, 30, of Maplewood, was charged Wednesday in Hennepin County
District Court with third-degree murder in connection with the Sept. 25 overdose of
Maxwell Tillitt, 21, in an Eden Prairie hotel. He died the next day.
On May 20, Burrell was charged with selling heroin to a New Prague man, Nicholas
Petrick, 29, who overdosed and died in a Costco parking lot in Eden Prairie in April.
She's also charged in the death of Luke Ronnei, a 20 -year-old Chanhassen man, under
similar circumstances in Carver County.
Burrell remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail ahead of a court appearance Thursday.
According to the latest charges:
Tillitt and a woman he was "romantic with" went to a Minneapolis restaurant on Sept.
25, met Burrell outside in a car and paid $180 for heroin. Tillitt and the woman went to a
hotel, where he shot up some of the drug. Tillitt collapsed and vomited.
The medical examiner's office attributed his death to a mixture of methamphetamine
and heroin.
A search of phone records turned 63 contacts between Tillitt and Burrell from Sept. 6
until the day the drug deal went down.
Investigators also used cellphone tracking data to pinpoint where the drug deal occurred
— outside a Perkins restaurant just off of Riverside Avenue in south Minneapolis.
Authorities say Burrell was known as "Ice" on the street, and "this location was regularly
used by [her] to sell heroin."
Investigators used a confidential informant to conduct a controlled buy from Burrell
while under surveillance by law enforcement. On Thursday, officers conducted a second
controlled buy and arrested Burrell in her vehicle. Police found 27.7 grams of packaged
heroin and about $120,000 in cash in her home.
Tillitt was engaged to be married at the time of his death and left behind a baby boy.
A GoFundMe page started to assist with his son's upbringing said that "when Landon
was born, Max would love staying up in the middle of the night reading his favorite
book, `Love You Forever,' to Landon.... Landon may not have the chance to know the
love and kindness we all felt from his dad, but we'll find Max's contagious smile and
laugh in the memories we share."
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Maxwell Tlllit, who died of a heroin overdose.
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