By Shereen Siewert
Homicide charges have been filed in connection with the February overdose death of a 38-year-old Wausau man whose body was discovered by his mother in their shared apartment.
Leanna M. Wells, 41, faces a single charge of first-degree reckless homicide filed June 17 in Marathon County Circuit Court. Wells is accusing of delivering fentanyl and heroin to the man, who was also taking prescribed oxycodone, court documents show.
Officers were called at about 12:30 a.m. February 27 to an apartment in the 900 block of South 48th Avenue after the man’s mother found him face down and unresponsive on the bathroom floor. Police say the man appeared to have died several hours earlier, and CPR was not performed.
The man was arrested weeks before he died after allegedly buying heroin from a confidential informant, court records show. His mother told police her son admitted to using street drugs when his prescription for oxycodone ran out, according to court documents.
Investigators, using phone records and other evidence, traced the fatal dose of drugs to Wells, who allegedly admitted selling heroin to the man at least 10 times.
A toxicology report from an autopsy showed a variety of substances in the man’s system including methamphetamine, fentanyl, amphetamine and other drugs, court records show.
Wells, who is also known by the nickname “Shorty,” is being summoned into court June 29 for an initial appearance in the case. She is jailed on a $15,000 cash bond connected to heroin delivery charges in a case filed in March.
