Court docs: Two charged with drug crimes related to 2022 Centralia overdose death
CENTRALIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Two people were charged with drug crimes on Wednesday in relation to a Centralia overdose death investigation from September 2022, according to court documents.
Lance Wilson Wade, 33, of Fulton, and Jordan Thomas Richardson, 40, of Columbia, were charged with delivery of a controlled substance. Warrants were ordered for both men on Thursday. A $20,000 bond was set for Richardson and no bond was set for Wade. Court dates have not been set.
The probable cause statements say Centralia police were dispatched to a residence – that was redacted in the statement – on Sept. 12, 2022, for a death investigation. The name of the victim was redacted in the statement. The statement says officers found the victim dead in the residence in a chair.
Drugs and drug paraphernalia were found in the room, as well as a straw and business card with residue and an iPhone, the statement says.
Court documents say that on Oct. 9, 2023, the Boone County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the victim’s death was caused from “effects of lethal fentanyl methamphetamine and fentanyl intoxication.” On Oct. 11, 2023, the Missouri State Highway Patrol lab confirmed the business card had fentanyl residue and the straw had fentanyl and methamphetamine residue, court documents say.
Court documents say that police saw a text-message conversation with the victim and Richardson on the victim’s phone that indicated Richardson was going to the victim’s residence. Richardson was arrested for “an unrelated matter” on Jan. 5, 2023, and allegedly told law enforcement that he went to Centralia and sold fentanyl to the victim, the probable cause statement says.
Another text message conversation between Wade and the victim was discovered on Wade’s phone by law enforcement – during a separate arrest in December 2022 -- that allegedly indicates that the two would meet, court documents say.
