Teen charged with murder in 15-year-old West St. Paul girl’s overdose death

A 17-year-old boy has been charged with murder in the death of a 15-year-old West St. Paul girl this spring.

The Dakota County Attorney’s Office says a 17-year-old from Bloomington is charged by juvenile petition with one count of third-degree murder after he allegedly provided fentanyl to a girl who then died from its toxicity.

The petition states West St. Paul police were called to a home at around 12:48 a.m. on April 20 after a woman found her daughter unresponsive.

According to the petition, the woman saw a light coming from her 15-year-old daughter’s bedroom and found her daughter face down in her bed, unresponsive. She started CPR until first responders arrived but the girl was pronounced dead at a hospital due to fentanyl toxicity.

Next to the girl was a blue pill, the petition states. Authorities then found messages on the girl’s phone between her and the suspect indicating they’d apparently set up a meeting for the girl to buy four fentanyl pills from him for $60 on April 19. Later that night, the suspect messaged the girl, “only take like less than a quarter of it,” and messaged back shortly after 2 a.m., “they hitting?” but the girl never responded to either message.

Prosecutors have filed a motion to certify the suspect as an adult, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was not in custody as of Friday afternoon.