A Mid-Missouri man is charged with second-degree murder in connection with the overdose death of a Jefferson City woman in January.
Travis Jaegers, 37, of California, is also charged with accessory to delivery of a controlled substance and two counts of armed criminal action.
A Jefferson City Police Department probable cause statement shows the incident occurred on Jan. 30 in the 800 block of Nelson Drive.
Officers responded for a suspected narcotics overdose and found a woman, identified as Terri Sutherland, deceased in a bathroom. Authorities said she had used a hypodermic needle, burnt spoon and a small plastic baggy with a white colored substance. That substance was later identified during an analysis by the Missouri Highway Patrol laboratory as fentanyl.
An autopsy was done on Sutherland’s body by the Boone County Medical Examiner’s Office and authorities said the results confirmed Sutherland died from an overdose of fentanyl.
Investigators went through Sutherland’s cellphone and found she had contacted individuals about purchasing narcotics within 24 hours of her death. One of those individuals reportedly was Jaegers.
Authorities said Sutherland’s phone showed a purchase was made at the Walgreens Drug Store on East Elm Street just a couple of hours before her death.
Investigators got surveillance video from Walgreens and reportedly saw a man go inside the store and purchase hypodermic needles with Sutherland’s bank card. Authorities said this man was later positively identified as Jaegers.
Authorities later obtained search warrants to go through Jaegers’ cellphone and the cellphone of the woman he was in a relationship with at the time. Information from those searches found that the phones left California and simultaneously arrived in the vicinity of Sutherland’s residence near the time of her death.
Jaegers was arrested on March 29 and when questioned allegedly denied delivering narcotics to Sutherland, but did confess to purchasing hypodermic needles for Sutherland.
Jaegers' girlfriend was also arrested and, according to authorities, admitted she and Jaegers transported the narcotics from California to Sutherland’s residence and that Jaegers sold Sutherland $40 worth of narcotics. She also allegedly said that she and Jaegers got sick from this same batch the day before and that Jaegers told Sutherland about this.