The boyfriend of a woman who died of an overdose in Chehalis early Thursday morning was formally charged with controlled substance homicide in Lewis County Superior Court on Friday.
The defendant, Ronnie Paul Wilson, 36, of Centralia, was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail at 5:45 a.m. on Thursday –– about four hours after law enforcement found the victim dead in an apartment in the 1590 block of North National Avenue.
The charging information filed in Lewis County Superior Court on Friday revealed more about what led to the death of the victim, who was identified in court documents as 45-year-old Andrea Shephard.
According to court documents, Wilson had been leaving the Chehalis Safeway between midnight and 1 a.m. on Thursday when he found “blue pills wrapped in cellophane in the parking lot.” He reportedly brought the pills home to the apartment in the 1590 block of North National Avenue and “discussed them” with Shephard.
Through a Google search, the couple reportedly identified the pills as Percocet, “as they were blue and contained an M30 marking,” according to court documents.
Percocet, also known as oxycodone, is a highly-addictive opioid that is often laced with fentanyl.
Wilson reportedly said “he wanted to take the pills with dinner, but Andrea wanted to take hers immediately,” according to court documents.
Shepherd reportedly crushed up one pill and snorted it while Wilson snorted half of one pill and ingested the other half, per court documents.
The two then went to bed.
At some point in the night, Wilson awoke to find Shephard “was unresponsive and had vomited,” according to court documents. Wilson reportedly pulled Shephard out of bed, called 911 and began CPR.
The Chehalis Police Department was dispatched alongside first responders to the North National Avenue apartment at approximately 2 a.m. on Thursday. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Medical personnel at the scene reported Shephard displayed indicators of an overdose.
An autopsy on Shepard’s body is scheduled for Jan. 23, according to court documents.
After hearing Wilson’s account of the events leading to Shepherd's death Thursday morning, officers obtained a search warrant for the apartment and found “a small blue pill marked with ‘M30’ in a small box in the nightstand next to the bed,” according to court documents. The box also contained Wilson’s debit card.
Wilson was held overnight at the Lewis County Jail ahead of his preliminary appearance in Lewis County Superior Court on Friday, where he was charged with one count of controlled substance homicide.
Despite Wilson’s lack of criminal history and support from family and friends in the courtroom on Friday, a judge found the alleged facts of the case concerning enough to warrant setting Wilson’s bail at $30,000.
His arraignment hearing is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 26.
