HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 05-20 Maplewood woman charged with 3rd-degree murder after man's fatal drug overdose in Costco parking lot STAR TRIBUNE7/14/2016 Maplewood woman charged with 3rd -degree murder after man's fatal drug overdose in Costco parking lot- StarTribune.com
WEST METRO
Maplewood woman charged with 3rd -
degree murder after man's fatal drug
overdose in Costco parking lot
By Liz Sawyer (http://www.startribune.com/liz-sawyer/270190981/) Star Tribune
MAY 20, 2016 — 8:26PM
A Maplewood woman was charged Friday with selling heroin to a New Prague man who
overdosed and died in a Costco parking lot in Eden Prairie last month.
Beverly N. Burrell, 30, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with third-degree
murder and two counts of selling narcotics. Authorities believe Burrell sold Nicholas
Petrick, 29, a deadly batch of heroin laced with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opiate.
According to the complaint:
On April 15, Eden Prairie police responded to a call about a person slumped over in a car
at the Costco on Technology Drive. The man, later identified as Petrick, was holding
drug paraphernalia and appeared to have died from a narcotics overdose several days
before. An autopsy would later confirm his cause of death as the ingestion of heroin
laced with fentanyl.
Costco surveillance footage showed Petrick buying pizza inside the store around 2 p.m.
on April ll. The slice was found half -eaten next to him in the car. Phone records showed
he stopped using his cell just before the purchase.
A friend later told police that they both drove from Eden Prairie to downtown
Minneapolis to buy heroin from a female dealer known as "Ice." Petrick's friend, who
frequently bought drugs from Ice, said they began using heroin together. He later took
Petrick back to Eden Prairie.
Records show seven phone calls between Ice and Petrick on April ll, less than an hour
before he overdosed in his car, police said. His body was found four days later.
Authorities believe Burrell may be linked to at least one other heroin death in Carver
County. A 20 -year-old Chanhassen man died in January less than 24 hours after he
purchased narcotics from Ice.
Investigators used a confidential informant to conduct a controlled buy from Ice while
under surveillance by law enforcement downtown. 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.
She remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail.
Iiz.sawyer@startribune.com 612-673-4648 bylizsawyer
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