By Devin Fry
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (Valley News Live) – A Grand Forks woman faces murder and drug charges after allegedly selling fentanyl that led to a fatal overdose in East Grand Forks in April.
Amber Rose Chapman, 36, has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree controlled substance crime in Polk County District Court, according to court documents.
Fatal overdose in April
Police responded to an apartment on Fifth Avenue Northwest in East Grand Forks around 12:42 a.m. April 8 after receiving a 911 call reporting an overdose. Officers found a 36-year-old woman at the scene. She was pronounced dead and her body was transported for an autopsy, which indicated a narcotic-related overdose with no obvious alternative cause of death.
According to court documents, investigators discovered messages between the victim and Chapman discussing drug transactions. The messages showed Chapman had visited the victim’s apartment multiple times between April 5 and April 7, including an early morning visit on April 7 when Chapman sent a PayPal request for $30.
A witness told police he and the victim had smoked fentanyl together approximately one hour before he found her unresponsive. The witness said the fentanyl was purple in color and stronger than blue fentanyl they had used earlier.
Search and Arrest
Police searched Chapman’s Grand Forks apartment and found fentanyl, methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. Chapman admitted to officers she had been using methamphetamine and fentanyl almost daily for the past month and had been selling fentanyl, according to court documents.
Chapman told investigators she had given the victim fentanyl in exchange for a nose piercing and $30, and later provided the victim with one-tenth of a gram of purple fentanyl when they met outside the victim’s apartment building.
Chapman also faces an enhanced charge for selling drugs within 300 feet of Itts Williams Park in East Grand Forks, which qualifies as a prohibited zone under Minnesota law.
Chapman is now in custody at the Northwest Regional Corrections Center in Crookston. She has her first appearance in court scheduled for December 26.
