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Maplewood Woman Charged In Another Heroin Overdose Death

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A 30-year-old Maplewood woman already charged in an overdose death has been linked to another, according to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.

Beverly Burrell is now charged with two counts of third-degree murder, and two counts of third-degree sale of drugs in connection to the two incidents.

According to the criminal complaint, Burrel supplied heroin laced with fentanyl – a synthetic opiate more powerful than morphine – to 29-year-old Nick Petrick of New Prague. On April 11, Petrick was found dead from an apparent narcotics overdose in a Costco parking lot in Eden Prairie.

A friend of Petrick told investigators that he traveled with the victim to Minneapolis to purchase heroin from a woman known as "Ice", later identified as Burrell. She is known to use at least four different phone numbers for drug transactions, the complaint said.

Now, authorities say Burrell is linked to another heroin death that occurred in Carver County. On Jan. 7 at 12:10 p.m., 20-year-old Luke Ronnei of Chanhassen was found unresponsive in his bed. He was pronounced dead not long after, and his cause of death was determined to be a heroin overdose.

According to the complaint, Ronnei and a friend had also traveled to Minneapolis to purchase heroin from Burrell.

In a previous WCCO story, Ronnei's mother said she sometimes followed her son when he left their residence with friends. On two occasions, she witnesses her son and friends buying drugs from a woman matching the description of Burrell.

On May 19, Burrell was arrested when officers used Petrick's friend to conduct another control buy of heroin in Minneapolis. After the informant bought 0.38 grams of the substance from Burrell, she was arrested, the complaint said.

An executed search warrant of her residence in Maplewood resulted in the recovery of 27.7 grams of heroin along with $120,000 in money.

If convicted, Burrell could face a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison per murder charge.

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