Minneapolis Woman Charged With Murder In Chaska Opioid Death

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Minneapolis woman is charged with murder for selling carfentanil-laced heroin. to a man who later died of an overdose in Chaska.

Leah Victoria Peterson, 25, is charged with one count of third degree murder for selling a schedule 1 controlled substance.

According to the Carver County Attorney's office, Peterson and another man drove to a Super America near 27-year-old John Michael Hall's residence in Chaska to sell him heroin. Prosecutors say Hall got into the car with Peterson and the other man, bought the heroin from Peterson and injected it into his arm.

Peterson told prosecutors she and the accomplice were worried about the heroin because they were "fairly confident" it was laced with fentanyl, a powerful opioid. In fact, the Carver County Medical Examiner found cafentanil in Hall's system -- an opioid 100 times stronger than fentanyl.

Hall's roommate found him dead in the living room of their apartment on Water's Edge Drive the next morning.

At a court hearing Tuesday, Peterson's bail was set at $1 million, or $250,000 under supervised release conditions. Her next court appearance is set for Friday.

If convicted, Peterson could face up to 25 years in prison.