Drug dealer charged with murder pleads not guilty

32-year-old accused of selling lethal dose of drugs that killed 18-year-old

Booking photo of Trumaine Muller

CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – A drug dealer charged with murder in the overdose death of an 18-year-old girl in Clay County pleaded not guilty Tuesday.

Deputies said Ariell Jade Brundige died Nov. 10 of an overdose from fentanyl-laced heroin.

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Trumaine "Lucky" Muller, 32, was indicted May 15 for first-degree murder for selling the lethal dose of drugs that killed Brundige.

The Clay County Sheriff's Office said it was the first murder arrest connected to the sale of drugs in Clay, Duval and Nassau counties.

Tyler Hamilton, 26, and Christopher Williams, 32, who are facing manslaughter charges in Brundige's death pleaded not guilty earlier this month.

Deputies said they bought the drugs that killed Brundige, and Hamilton, who was Brundige’s boyfriend, was with her when she died.

Toxicology results showed Brundige had well over the lethal amount of fentanyl in her system. Fentanyl can be up to 50 times more potent than heroin.

Detectives said that the opioid epidemic has prompted them to approach all narcotics overdose cases as homicides, and that's how they investigated Brundige's death. 

The Sheriff's Office said that although the drug that killed Brundige was heroin laced with fentanyl, selling any drug that kills someone could now be considered cause for a charge of first-degree murder for the dealer.

Muller is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing July 17.


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