RIDGWAY - Elk County District Attorney Shawn McMahon announced Wednesday that two women have been charged with supplying drugs that killed a 24-year-old Kaitlyn Buerk in 2017.
Police have filed drug delivery resulting in death charges against Allison Miller, 29, of Byrnedale and Theresa Sample., 27, of Johnsonburg. Officials said Miller is Buerk’s sister, and Sample is her cousin.
McMahon said this is the first time this type of offense has been filed in the county.
According to police, Buerk died at a home in Wilcox on March 30, 2017, of what was a suspected heroin overdose.
Officials conducted a lab test and have determined she died from taking straight fentanyl.
Police said Miller and Sample gave Buerk the drugs near the Moose in St. Marys.
According to police, Miller bought 20 bags of what she thought was heroin from a man in Pittsburgh. Witnesses told police Miller knew the bags were laced and “powerful.”
Police said text messages showed that Sample was in the car with Miller while she was selling the drugs to people. Investigators said the duo gave five of those bags to Buerk.
McMahon said Wednesday that fentanyl is extremely potent and using hard drugs is like a game of Russian roulette.
“It’s high stakes if you want to even think about using controlled substances from off the street. I hope that from the standpoint of the filing of these charges, that there’s a public awareness that you can’t do that, it’s against the law and there’s consequences if you decide to engage in that behavior,” said McMahon.
Both Miller and Sample are in the Elk County Jail on $100,00 and $75,000 bail, respectively.
Police are still trying to determine where exactly the drugs came from in Pittsburgh.
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