By Shereen Siewert
WAUSAU — A five-day jury trial has been scheduled for one of two people facing homicide charges connected to the August 2017 overdose death of a Wausau man.
Tonya Lyn Muzynoski, now 38, is expected to be tried Feb. 18 on charges of first degree reckless homicide by delivery of drugs, possession of heroin with intent to deliver and maintaining a drug trafficking place. The charges were filed Aug. 21, 2017, shortly after the death of 28-year-old Ryan McClinton.
Police say McClinton died after shooting about a tenth of a gram of heroin at the home of a friend on Hwy. W in Wausau.
A witness told police he and McClinton split a dose of heroin purchased from Muzynoski, who had allegedly gotten the heroin from 51-year-old Shabaka Nubian-Yl, according to the police report. Nubian-Yl faces identical charges and is due to be arraigned on Oct. 1.
Investigators then searched the Weston home Muzynoski and Nubian-Yl shared and found 33.78 grams of packaged heroin and more than $10,000 in cash, according to the criminal complaint. The two also had 14.74 grams of packaged heroin in their possession at the time of their arrest during a traffic stop in the town of Rib Mountain, police said. In total, detectives seized 960 doses of heroin worth an estimated street value of $24,000.00 during the investigation, according to a news release issued at the time of their arrest.
Muzynoski said she and Nubian-Yl traveled to Chicago one or two times each week to buy up to 100 grams of heroin for resale in the Wausau area, according to the police report.
Before the traffic stop, Nubial-Yl told Muzynoski to hide the heroin inside her body, according to Muzynoski’s statement to police. While being interviewed, one of the bags containing about 7.44 grams of heroin began to leak, prompting police to call for an ambulance. The heroin was removed before Muzynoski overdosed, police said.
Police said the heroin could have been laced with a stronger drug, such as Fentanyl. When interviewed, Nubian-Yl told police, “These (expletive) all complain about weak-ass dope and then I serve them good strong dope and they die,” according to the police report.
Nubian-Yl told police he is “not a bad guy” and that he sympathizes with heroin addicts. He is being held on a $1 million cash bond, while bond has been set for Muzynoski at $500,000, according to court records. The two suspects will be tried separately.
