KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A man is charged with murder and involuntary manslaughter in the drug overdose deaths of two men who worked together at a local restaurant.
The identities of the two drug overdose victims were redacted in court documents.
Jackson County prosecutors charged Angel Esparza, 32, with second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and delivery of a controlled substance except 35 grams or less of marijuana or synthetic cannabinoid.
Lee's Summit Police contacted a Jackson County Drug Task Force detective on Oct. 22, 2023, about a suspected overdose death in a Lee's Summit apartment.
The detective said the victim was found in a bedroom with "numerous items of drug paraphernalia that were photographed and collected as evidence," according to a court document.
An autopsy report on Nov. 8, 2024, stated the cause of death for the man in a Lee's Summit apartment was fentanyl and acetyifental intoxication.
A relative of the drug overdose victim told a drug task force detective they used a phone app to keep track of the victim. The app showed that the victim returned home from his job at a Wingstop at 12:52 a.m.
The victim sent the family member a text at 2:06 a.m., asking the relative to call him by 11 a.m. to make sure he was awake. The victim told the relative in a text that he had to work that day.
Just before the man texted his relative, he sent a text to his manager at a Lee's Summit Wingstop about the powerful effects of a tiny amount of fentanyl, according to the court document.
The second victim was found dead by Belton police officers on Oct. 24, 2023, in a basement bedroom of the residence. Belton officers found numerous items of drug paraphernalia, including syringes and a plastic baggie that contained suspected illicit drugs, the court document states.
A detective interviewed Esparza in September 2024 at the Franklin County Detention Center in Ottawa, Kansas.
The court document states Esparza lied to the detective when he said he was in the Franklin County Jail on Oct. 21, 2023, the night he sold fentanyl to at least one of the victims.
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