MARION COUNTY, Fla. — A 20-year-old Ocala man has been charged with murder, accused of selling another man a lethal dose of fentanyl.
>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<
On October 12, 2021, Marion County deputies responded to a home on SW 112th Lane after a caller reported a man was dead.
READ: NASA announces new targeted launch date for Artemis I
The deputies arrived to find 26-year-old Marcus Lane II dead from an apparent drug overdose with a bag of pills next to him.
More than a month later, the Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed for investigators that Lane had died of “fentanyl and ethanol toxicity.”
Detectives investigating Lane’s death say they later found records of text messages between Lane and 20-year-old Marquis Rosado discussing a possible drug deal on the day Lane died.
Through witness statements and surveillance video, investigators determined Rosado had driven to Lane’s home just hours before his death and supplied him with the pills that were later found near his body.
READ: Orange County votes to extend emergency rental assistance program
According to the sheriff’s office, a laboratory analysis of the pills confirmed they were fentanyl.
Rosado was initially arrested back in January on drug charges.
Just last week, the State Attorney’s Office presented evidence from the investigation into Lane’s death to a grand jury, which returned with a first-degree murder indictment for Rosado.
On the same day the grand jury indicted him, deputies found Rosado at his girlfriend’s home in Ocala and took him into custody.
READ: Officials: Florida man allegedly shot his 2 young children in the head at bedtime, killing one
As he was being arrested, deputies noted Rosado told another man at the scene that he “sold some drugs to a guy who died.”
Rosado is being held in the Marion County jail on no bond. He’s scheduled to be arraigned in late September.
Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
©2022 Cox Media Group
