Fentanyl overdose leads to first-degree murder charge against man accused of selling drug
Javontay Kinder and Tyler Twiehaus exchanged text messages late last June to arrange a meeting to complete a drug transaction, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office investigators said. Days after their meeting, Kinder sent Twiehaus messages providing his new cellphone number and contact information.
Twiehaus never saw them. He was dead of an overdose from drugs he bought from Kinder, investigators said. Kinder is now facing murder and other charges following his arrest this month.
Deputies took the 24-year-old Deerfield Beach man into custody on Tuesday, May 7, on one count each of first-degree murder by drug distribution, trafficking in fentanyl and the sale of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin.
During a court hearing at the Palm Beach County Jail the following day, Circuit Judge Donald Hafele ordered that Kinder be held without bail on the murder charge. He is scheduled to appear in court again in June. An attorney mentioned in court records as being at the hearing on Kinder's behalf declined to comment.
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According to Kinder's arrest report, Twiehaus was found unresponsive on the morning of July 1, 2023, at an Extended Stay America motel on 10th Avenue North in Lake Worth Beach.
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue medics pronounced him dead in his room. An autopsy showed that Twiehaus had fentanyl, acetylfentanyl, flurorofentanyl, and protonitazene in his system.
An online obituary listed Twiehaus' age as 34. Court records indicated he had lived at various sites in central Palm Beach County in the past, including Lake Worth Beach and Greenacres.
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A review of his cellphone revealed that, prior to his death, Twiehaus had been in communication with a contact listed as "TJ," later identified as Kinder, the arrest report said.
Further investigation reportedly showed CashApp transactions in which Twiehaus paid Kinder $20 and $80. Surveillance-camera videos from June 30, 2023, showed the men meeting at a gas station whose location was not disclosed, then following each other to a nearby motel parking lot, the report said.
Kinder tried to contact Twiehaus' cellphone in late July after not hearing from him, according to the arrest report. "An agent" replied instead.
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State law gives prosecutors power to charge dealers with murder in drug overdose deaths
Kinder's arrest is the latest in an effort by local authorities to hold suspected drug dealers responsible for deaths caused by fentanyl overdoses.
In 2017, then-Gov. Rick Scott Rick Scott signed a bill expanding the state's homicide statute and strengthening state attorneys' prosecutorial powers in cases involving fentanyl. Under the law, dealers could face murder charges if their customers fatally overdose on the drug.
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Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg promised in 2018 to use the bill to "aggressively charge drug dealers who spread deadly fentanyl-laced heroin."
In March, federal authorities arrested a Lantana-area couple after alleging that they sold fentanyl that killed a 10-month-old child in 2022.
Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Fatal fentanyl overdose leads to murder charge against suspected dealer
