SYRACUSE — A Syracuse man is facing a new criminal charge for dealing drugs to a woman who overdosed and died.
Shane Ashley Holloway, 53, of 306 W. Valleyview Drive, Syracuse, is charged with dealing in a controlled substance resulting in death, a level 1 felony; and possession of methamphetamine and maintaining a common nuisance, both level 6 felonies.
On Aug. 25, medical personnel responded to a residence in Syracuse regarding a report of an unresponsive woman, who was later pronounced dead.
According to court documents, while responding to the residence, officers found drug paraphernalia in a bathroom. Holloway, Charles R. Losee and Robert C. McKibben were all at the home upon officers’ arrival. Losee told officers he found the woman in the residence’s bathroom.
All three men refused consent for the residence to be searched but Holloway agreed to speak with law enforcement.
Holloway said the woman was in the bathroom when he came home. He said this was odd because Losee typically drove the woman to work around that time. Losee then called Holloway and asked where the woman was. When Losee asked to speak with the woman, Holloway went to the bathroom door and attempted to talk with the woman, but didn’t receive a reply.
Losee then came to the residence, and both Losee and Holloway broke into the bathroom. The two men found the woman unresponsive. Losee began CPR while Holloway called 911.
In his interview, Holloway said several times it took medical personnel 30 minutes to get to the scene. However, a 911 call log showed it only took EMS seven minutes to get there. Holloway would also occasionally evade officers’ questions by telling non-pertinent stories about how good a person he was.
Holloway also said no one spoke openly about drugs in the home and that he had never seen anyone in the residence use drugs.
Upon obtaining a search warrant for the home, officers found drug paraphernalia with marijuana residue and a hotel key card that tested positive for meth. In the bathroom, officers found an aluminum strip with burnt fentanyl residue.
An autopsy on Aug. 27 showed the woman’s cause of death was drug intoxication via fentanyl, and the manner of death was ruled accidental.
Officers obtained a search warrant for Holloway’s cell phone. In the cell phone, officers found a conversation beginning on Aug. 24 and continuing through Aug. 25. The conversation involved Holloway and a second woman discussing her delivering something to Holloway.
On Sept. 19, law enforcement spoke with the second woman, who said she borrowed Holloway’s vehicle to go to South Bend and purchase fentanyl. The second woman left the fentanyl in Holloway’s vehicle and described the bag it was in. The bag description matched a bag found in the residence on Aug. 25. The second woman also said Holloway told her he provided the first woman with fentanyl.
Officers spoke with Losee on Oct. 25, who said he knew the fentanyl the first woman took came from Holloway and that he was upset because Holloway had left her by herself.
Holloway was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail on Monday with a $100,250 bond.
For this case, McKibben has a change of plea hearing at 10 a.m. Dec. 18 in Kosciusko Circuit Court. Losee has a pretrial conference at 3 p.m. Jan. 8.