Murder charge against Plymouth woman in fatal jailhouse overdose

A Plymouth woman was charged with third-degree murder for providing a fatal dose of heroin to another inmate, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Friday.

Cortney Ann Metcalfe, 31, was charged in the January death of a woman, K.D., who had been in the Hennepin County Jail since Dec. 26. She was found unresponsive in her bunk about 5:40 a.m. Jan. 21. Metcalfe is expected to make her first appearance this afternoon.

According to the criminal complaint, Hennepin County sheriff’s deputies and nurses responded quickly when K.D. was found unresponsive and tried to save her. An ambulance arrived and took her to the Hennepin County Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. The autopsy found she died of heroin toxicity.

The investigation found that Metcalfe was booked into the jail on Jan. 19 for fifth-degree drug possession. Her bed was adjacent to K.D.’s. Investigators looked at surveillance video and saw that just before 3 a.m. Jan. 21, Metcalfe and the victim got out of bed and headed towards the bathroom. Metcalfe appeared to be carrying something in her right hand and K.D. was carrying something under her left armpit, the complaint states.

Two minutes later, Metcalfe left the bathroom and returned to her bed, followed three minutes later by K.D., according to the complaint. Metcalfe was taken to the medical center to be thoroughly searched. Officers saw a plastic bindle on the floor under the bench where Metcalfe was seated. The bindle contained a half-gram of heroin.

Metcalfe told investigators she had smuggled the heroin into the jail in her vagina when she was arrested, gave some to the victim and watched her take it the morning of her death, the complaint states.

Metcalfe Criminal Complaint (PDF)