APD issues arrest warrants for 2 people related to fentanyl overdose deaths

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Two people were charged and arrest warrants were issued in connection with fentanyl overdose deaths that occurred in September and December of 2023, according to Travis County court documents.

An arrest warrant issued Tuesday was for a woman in connection with a fentanyl overdose death that occurred Dec. 25.

Records showed 30-year-old Briyana Lenore Wilson had been charged with the manufacturing or delivery of a controlled substance causing death or serious bodily injury in connection with the death of 22-year-old Emma Cardwell.

Under a Texas law passed in June 2023, the charge was now considered a third-degree felony and could be prosecuted as murder.

According to an affidavit, the Austin Police Department said it believed two of Cardwell’s previous overdoses were from drugs Wilson sold. The connection was made based on previous messages sent between the two with similar dates to the overdoses, according to court documents.

According to another Travis County court document, 32-year-old Harrison Leland Korman was also suspected of selling drugs to a 33-year-old man who was found dead on his bathroom floor.

On Sept. 15, APD responded to a call related to a suspected overdose death. Investigators found a man later identified as Leo Howe, 33, at the scene, as well as multiple different narcotics, including fentanyl.

An autopsy report concluded Howe’s cause of death to be the toxic effects of fentanyl and other drugs.

Korman was connected to the investigation based on text messages found on Howe’s phone and by cross-referencing the phone number utilizing a money transfer application.

Records showed Korman had been charged with the manufacture or delivery of a substance causing death or serious bodily injury, a third-degree felony.