Finding Normal

Joshua Winton, 23, is accused of selling Jennifer Williams prescription drugs that led to her death June 25.

Trial was scheduled to begin April 28.

Williams was found dead on her bedroom floor by her mother.

Authorities say an autopsy showed she had several drugs in her system and died of an overdose.

In a court affidavit, investigators said Winton acknowledged selling Williams methadone and oxycodone tablets, and that he had prescriptions for other medications filled the week before Williams died.

So, I went in search of the original story.

Murder charge in overdose death

By JOHN SENTS - Staff Writer
Thursday, November 6, 2008 12:46 PM PST

Joshua Winton

Jenny Williams

ELKO - An Ely resident was arrested Wednesday night by Elko police on a warrant charging second-degree murder related to the June overdose death of an 18-year-old Elko woman.

In an affidavit, Elko Police Detective Ty Trouten alleged Joshua Winton, 23, sold Jennifer Williams four methadone tablets, more than two oxycodone tablets and at least one hydrocodone tablet in the days before her June 25 death. I am not sure how you can determine ONE Hydrocodone tablet was taken a week before the death but is has been my experience that you don't hold onto ONE Lorcet/lortab etc. for a week before taking it & why would someone confess to selling or giving methadone and Oxycodone to someone but lie about a hydrocodone pill? I am betting someone else gave this to her & they didn't want to investigate this when it was easier to just accuse this boy of it.

Williams was found dead by her mother on the bedroom floor of her residence at 665 Bullion Road No. 76. An autopsy performed by the Washoe County Medical Examiner's Office determined she died of an overdose, specifically from the effects of methadone, oxycodone and hydrocodone. Other drugs found in her body included alprazolam, carisoprodol and dextromethorphan. Since when does Xanax mixed with methadone not have any effect in an overdose? That is a lethal combo. Also, who supplied the Xanax, Soma? The cold medicine she probably bought herself.

In his affidavit, Trouten said Winton admitted selling Williams methadone and oxycodone tablets and he had a prescription for hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen filled the week before Williams' death. Just because he had it filled does not mean he gave them to her. Trouten said in the statement some of Williams' family and friends indicated she was addicted to prescription drugs such as Xanax, Soma and oxycodone. So she was tolerant to opiates. This is important because it means it would take more methadone to kill her.

According to the affidavit, other drugs found in Williams system at the time of her death may have been obtained from family members or her boyfriend. But we aren't going to pursue that because we have someone to hold accountable for the methadone and OC which are the demon drugs that make headlines...LOL

At 12:10 a.m. June 25, Williams left a friend's residence and was “obviously under the influence of the controlled substances at that time,” Trouten said. She went to another residence with friends for a short time, before going home - sleeping throughout the drive. So how do they know she didn't get the drugs from there? Here is the thing...I realize Winton admitted to selling her the Methadone and Oxycodone but when was that? If it was a week before she died I can tell you it was not HIS drugs that killed her. If there is one thing an adict does not do is buy drugs and hold onto them for a week before taking them or take them gradually over time. No, she would have taken those pills either all at once or throughout ONE day not several days. But lets say she did take them gradually over several days...she was opiate tolerant, the highest millegram she could have had would have been 10mg. pills so 50mg total if she had 5 pills. Over a period of one week would have been 10mg a day which would not have killed an opiate tolerant person. It would have killed her with the first or second dose even with the "buildup effect" of the Methadone. Would it not make more sense that she bought/obtained MORE drugs at the friends house the day before her death? And although the accused was prescribed the 3 drugs with the biggest stigma & he admitted to selling 2 of them to her he is being convicted of the whole matter. She was unable to exit the car and enter her home without assistance from her boyfriend. Trouten said the boyfriend apparently recognized she was in danger and offered to call her father. She persuaded him not to and he left her lying on the floor of their bedroom in the same position she was found that afternoon by her mother, according to Trouten.

Williams was a 2007 Elko High School graduate and was active as a cheerleader, Choralier and office aid in high school. According to her family, she loved the outdoors, fishing, hunting, rodeos and sports - playing Little League Softball until she was 14. After graduation she enrolled at Great Basin College.

Acting on a tip, an Elko County sheriff's deputy arrested Winton at the Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital on the murder warrant. Could the tipster be the one who supplied the drugs? He is being held in Elko County Jail on $250,000 bail. Regardless of how she obtained the drugs, the act of obtaining drugs is trafficking if nobody dies as a result and it is trafficking if someone does die as a result. Winton is a drug trafficker/dealer not a murderer. Below is a news clip from KENV with the police chief which was suppose to be about the case but it turned into a PSA for what can happen if you sell or give drugs to someone.