Two charged with murder in Audrain County overdose death, arrest made

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Two people have been charged with murder in the July overdose death of a 62-year-old Mexico, Missouri woman.

Shelbi R. Hamilton and Timothy R. Hoffman, both of Mexico, were charged Tuesday. Hamilton is charged with second-degree murder and delivery of a controlled substance. Hoffman is charged with second-degree murder, delivery of a controlled substance, money laundering and financially exploiting an elderly person.

Hamilton was arrested at 5:51 p.m. Tuesday in the 700 block of W. Jackson Street in Mexico and was brought to the Audrain County Jail, according to an updated press release. Hoffman is being held in the Missouri Department of Corrections for unrelated offenses, the release says.

Mexico police were called to a home July 1 and found a 62-year-old woman dead with a syringe sticking out of her arm, according to a probable cause statement. Family members identified Hoffman as the woman's drug supplier, the statement says.

Hoffman told police that he was the woman's supplier but didn't sell her the drugs that killed her, the statement says. Phone records showed Hamilton helped the victim get drugs from Hoffman, including fentanyl, right before her death, the statement says.

Investigators determined Hoffman had been supplying the woman with drugs in exchange for payments from her disability income, the statement says.

An autopsy showed the victim's death was caused by a fentanyl overdose. Police did not give her name in probable cause statements.