2025-02-07

Amarillo man arrested for murder nearly 1 year after woman overdoses on fentanyl

File photo of Amarillo Police Department SUV (Credit: Amarillo Police Department)

AMARILLO, Texas (KVII) — An Amarillo man was arrested for murder after an 18-year-old woman overdosed on fentanyl almost one year ago.

On Feb. 29, 2024, Amarillo police responded to the 3500 block of Barclay Drive for a female who died of unknown causes.

She was identified as 18-year-old Vanessa Daniel and an autopsy determined that she died of a fentanyl overdose.

The Amarillo Police Department's Homicide and Narcotics Unit combined to conduct a full investigation.

The Randall County District Attorney's Office accepted a murder charge against 24-year-old Trent Klein, of Amarillo.

On Wednesday, Klein was indicted by the Randall County Grand Jury, arrested for murder and booked into the Randall County Jail.

The Texas Penal Code makes it an offense of Murder if a person manufactures or delivers fentanyl and an individual dies as a result of injecting, ingesting, inhaling or introducing into the individual’s body any amount of the controlled substance manufactured or delivered by the actor, regardless of whether the controlled substance was used by itself or with another substance, including a drug, adulterant, or dilutant," the department said

The Amarillo Police Department Narcotics Unit, Homicide Unit and Randall County District Attorney’s Office are committed to investigating and prosecuting fentanyl overdose deaths.