Placer County DA files murder charge in fentanyl death; the fifth homicide case of its kind

Placer County prosecutors on Tuesday filed a murder charge against a man accused of being responsible for a fentanyl death in April, the fifth time District Attorney Morgan Gire has sought homicide charges in a death from the synthetic opioid.

James Scott Teahan Jr., 34, is charged with murder in the death of Stephen Windham, according to an amended criminal complaint filed Tuesday by the Placer County District Attorney’s Office . The complaint alleges that the act that led to Windham’s death occurred April 24.

Teahan on Tuesday morning appeared for his arraignment hearing in Placer Superior Court, where he entered a not-guilty plea in the murder case. Judge Steven Howell scheduled Teahan to return to court Aug. 27 for further proceedings in his case, court records show.

He remained in custody Tuesday at the Placer County Jail, where he has been held since his April 24 arrest. He was being held without bail.

Teahan initially faced drug charges, along with unlawful gun and knife possession charges, jail and court records show. Now, those charges are superseded by the murder charge filed Tuesday.

Fentanyl is a powerful and potentially addictive synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin. The California Department of Justice has said two milligrams of fentanyl can result in overdose and potentially death.

The first Placer County defendant to face a murder charge in a fentanyl death was Carson David Schewe, a now 23-year-old man accused of selling fentanyl in December 2021 to 20-year-old Kade Kristopher Webb, who later died from an overdose in Roseville.

Schewe’s murder case is still pending after a Placer Superior Court judge in March declared a mistrial after a lab failed to provide the prosecution and the defense a report detailing a summary of results from the victim’s blood tests. Court records show Schewe, who has been in jail custody since February 2022, is scheduled to return to court Monday.

Nathaniel Evan Cabacungan, 22, was the first person in Placer County and in California to be convicted of murder in a fentanyl case. He pleaded guilty in July to second-degree murder for the death of 15-year-old Jewels Marie Wolf. She was a Roseville teen who died in June 2022 after ingesting a fake Percocet pill containing a lethal dose of fentanyl.

Gire and other prosecutors in California have taken a new approach to fentanyl deaths , filing murder charges against people who sell or provide fentanyl to someone who later dies from ingesting the drugs.

In early April, a 26-year-old Sacramento County man was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for selling fentanyl to an Auburn woman who died in an overdose. Aaron Kurtis Dare II, of Fair Oaks, was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of the 25-year-old Haleigh Yarbrough.

After Dare was sentenced, Gire said his office would continue its “aggressive pursuit” of fentanyl dealers.

“We will continue to hold those who sell this deadly poison in our community accountable,” Gire said in the April 4 news release . “Our team is dedicated to disrupting and dismantling this market, from both supply and demand.”

Prosecutors said the murder case against Teahan was the result of an investigation by the county’s Opioid Response Team, a partnership between the District Attorney’s Office and the Placer County Sheriff’s Office. The team was created in April, and this is the team’s first investigation that has led to a murder charge.