Hastings man sentenced to over 9 years in overdose death

A Hastings man was sentenced Thursday in connection to an overdose death in 2020.

The Dakota County Attorney’s Office says 42-year-old Jason Michael Slattum was sentenced to more than nine years (114 months) after pleading guilty to third-degree murder in the death of Michelle Cahill.

A criminal complaint states police officers found Cahill, 50, unconscious and not breathing in an apartment on July 11, 2020. Attempts to revive her were unsuccessful and she was pronounced dead.

The complaint states an autopsy determined Cahill died from mixed drug toxicity, which showed heroin mixed with fentanyl.

Text messages showed Slattum set up the heroin purchase, the complaint states, and he later admitted to selling drugs to Cahill’s husband.