Detectives arrest Florida man in Blue Lake overdoses
Aspen Times
Detectives with the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday arrested a Florida man in connection with the death of the two men who overdosed on drugs carfentanil in their Blue Lake home in March.
Samuel Brunelus, 23, of Deerfield, Fla., is charged with two counts of manslaughter and distribution of a controlled substance, all felonies. Michael Martinez, 26, and Camillo Sanchez, 30, were found dead on March 24 inside the house.
In collaboration with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department and Drug Enforcement Agency, two Eagle County detectives arrested Brunelus in Deerfield.
The law enforcement agencies “found evidence that linked (Brunelus) to the drugs that supplied the two victims with the carfentanil,” Eagle County Public Information Officer Jessie Porter said Wednesday.
Officers “obtained phone records and other evidence at the crime scene,” a four-bedroom residence at 108 Ermine Ln. in Blue Lake, Porter said.
She declined to say what other evidence the officers found.
In late April, police confirmed pills found inside the home contained heroin laced with carfentanil. At that time, a law enforcement source told The Aspen Times that inside the house officers found an open package from Florida that may have contained the pills.
A third man was found unresponsive in the home but was revived, recovered and moved to Florida.
Carfentanil is a highly toxic elephant tranquilizer capable of killing a person within minutes of contact.
In May, Eagle County Sheriff James Van Beek wrote a guest editorial in which he called carfentanil “the nuclear bomb of drugs.”
“A slight whiff, or dust on the fingers, can immediately slow respiration and heart rate until it stops,” Van Beek wrote. He added, “Even if the victim survives, there is a strong possibility of permanent brain damage due to a lack of oxygen.”
Brunelus is detained in the Broward County Detention Facility with a $50,000 cash bond. He is currently awaiting extradition to Colorado.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
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