Shortly after his brother died from a heroin overdose, investigators set up Shawn Rose with a wire and sent him to talk to the man alleged to have sold the fatal dose.
That, according to Williamsburg Police Department Investigator Lang Craighill, is one of the pieces of the puzzle that led investigators to charge 39-year-old Roy Edgar Morrisette with felony murder and felony distribution of heroin. Felony murder is a charge raised against someone when an action they are alleged to have made led to the death of another person. Morrisette appeared before Williamsburg-James City County District Court Judge Colleen Killilea at Tuesday’s hearing. Killilea certified the charges against Morrisette, sending the matter to Circuit Court.
Christopher Todd Rose, a 28-year-old Sandston man, was found dead in April at a room at the Motel 6 on Richmond Road in Williamsburg. The Medical Examiner determined the cause of death was a fatal dose of heroin that mixed with Oxycodone and alcohol in his system, which eventually caused him to stop breathing.
Following an investigation, the Williamsburg Police sent Rose’s brother, Shawn, to confront Morrisette with the hope of capturing evidence on tape.
Craighill said Shawn Rose and Morrisette were taped having a two-hour discussion, during which Morrisette complained to Shawn Rose about an interview he had with Craighill.
Craighill told the court Tuesday that Morrisette admitted on the tape to furnishing half a gram of heroin to Christopher Rose and he knew Christopher Rose had in the past consumed that same amount of heroin without issue.
Virginia Assistant Chief Medical Examiner Leah Bush performed the autopsy on Christopher Rose. At Tuesday’s hearing, she said that if a regular user of heroin stops for a time and then suddenly uses their regular dose, the results are often fatal. She said many people who overdose on the drug do so after they spend a week or less in jail and get out and use their regular dosage. She said heroin immediately turns into a form of morphine when it enters the bloodstream, and that the amount of morphine found in Christopher Rose’s body fell in the lethal range.
Craighill said a review of the surveillance video of the pathways outside the room where Christopher Rose was found dead showed Morrisette visiting the apartment for a little more than half an hour on the day Christopher Rose was found. Christopher Rose was last seen on the tape stepping out of his room for a few seconds to throw something in a nearby trashcan about six hours before he was found dead.
A criminal complaint filed in August with the District Court clerk said investigators also used phone records to tie Morrisette to the exchange of narcotics. He was arrested in North Carolina in August. He was extradited to Williamsburg on Aug. 20. He is facing five to 40 years in prison for each of the two charges if found guilty. A trial date in Circuit Court has yet to be set.
Related Coverage:
