HASTINGS, Minn. — Prosecutors have charged a 41-year-old Hastings man in the heroin overdose death of a woman in July.
Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom says Jason Michael Slattum of Hastings is charged with one count of Murder in the Third Degree in connection with providing the heroin that caused the overdose death of Michelle Cahill, 50, of Hastings.
On July 11, 2020, around 5:15 a.m., Hastings Police responded to a medical emergency at an apartment complex. When officers arrived, they found Cahill on the floor in a bedroom.
Police say she was unconscious and did not have a pulse. They attempted to revive her but she was pronounced dead a short time later.
The medical examiner determined the woman's cause of death to be "mixed drug toxicity (heroin, fentanyl, and acetyl fentanyl)," according to the criminal complaint.
Cahill's husband told officers that the couple had purchased heroin from a person known as "Jay" in Eagan the night of July 10. Police tracked down Slattum through phone messages, according to the complaint, and on Sept.1 Slattum was arrested.
When questioned Slattum reportedly admitted to investigators that he had sold Michelle Cahill and her husband methamphetamine and heroin on prior occasions, and had provided a half gram of heroin for $50 the last time they met.
"On behalf of law enforcement, we express our sympathy to the family and friends of Michelle Cahill for their loss. Overdose deaths from heroin, particularly when laced with fentanyl, are far too common and this problem has been escalating in recent months," said Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom in a news release.
Slattum made his first court appearance on Thursday.
Bail in the amount of $500,000 without conditions, and $300,000 with conditions, was set by Judge Shawn Moynihan, according to the complaint.
Slattum's next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2020 at 11:30 a.m. in Hastings.
