Yakima man accused of supplying drugs that killed woman in 2023 | Crimes and Courts

A Yakima man was arrested in connection with the death of a woman from a fentanyl overdose in December.

Members of the Drug Enforcement Task Force arrested the 41-year-old man on suspicion of drug-related homicide and furnishing fentanyl to Miranda Collison. In a probable cause affidavit, investigators said the suspect brought Collison four pills laced with fentanyl after she asked for medication to relieve pain from an infected finger.

The Yakima Herald-Republic generally does not identify defendants before charges are filed.

Detectives on the task force, which includes officers from the Washington State Patrol, Yakima County Sheriff’s Office and the Sunnyside, Granger, Grandview, Selah and Yakama Nation tribal police departments, began their investigation on Dec. 29 after Collison, 28, was found dead with three pills suspected to be fentanyl in her room.

The Yakima Valley Regional Crime Lab was able to extract text messages and Facebook Messenger messages from her phone showing that on December 27, 2023, Collison asked friends if she could get illegal drugs for her finger because the pain medication she had been prescribed was not working.

The suspect responded and said he could get her some 30-milligram Percocet pills, but Collison told him in the text message that she was concerned they might actually be fentanyl pills, the affidavit states.

Fentanyl pills are typically made to look like Percocet, the affidavit says, but the fentanyl content can vary from a small to a lethal dose.

“They scare me,” she wrote in one message. “Have you ever tried one? I don’t want to die.” She ended the message with a four-letter acronym that means to laugh really loudly.

The suspect responded that he would come by with the pills and asked for her location, the affidavit states. He later sent her a text message telling her he was there.

She reportedly took the pill and died hours later. Friends said she did not respond to calls the next day and was found dead on December 29, 2023, the affidavit said.

An autopsy in January preliminary showed that Collison had fentanyl in his system in addition to cocaine, alcohol and other drugs, according to the affidavit, which was based on a urine test.

In May, Yakima County Coroner Jim Curtice updated the cause of death based on toxicology results from the state crime lab that showed Collison died of an overdose of fentanyl and cocaine, the affidavit said.

On July 16, the state crime lab released its test results on the pills found in her home, which found they contained a mixture of fentanyl and xylazine, an animal tranquilizer, the affidavit said.

The suspect was arrested on July 18 and booked into the Yakima County Jail.

At a preliminary hearing on Friday, Yakima County Assistant Prosecutor Sam Chen asked for bail of $25,000 despite the average high risk that the suspect would fail to appear in court or commit new crimes.

“The victim in this case died as a result of the defendant’s actions,” Chen said in court. “If he is released, he will continue to supply and sell fentanyl that will harm, kill or injure people.”

Defense attorney Melissa Derry requested that the defendant be released under court supervision as recommended by the court’s Pretrial Services.

Yakima County Superior Court Judge Jeff Swan released the suspect on supervised release, but not before warning him that he would be “under scrutiny.” He told the suspect that he would most likely be monitored to determine if he was selling drugs.

“These drugs are killing our community and I’m not going to ignore the fact that there are people who are passing them on or helping others because they want to get high or whatever, that’s killing people in this community and that’s very dangerous,” Swan said.

If the suspect violates the terms of his release, he will be tried again, “and we will discuss whether the state was right in asking for a high bail amount,” Swan said. “I just want you to keep that in mind.”

“Yes, sir,” the suspect replied.