SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Dec. 26, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — A Taylorsville man charged last week in the meth-induced death of his girlfriend last year was scheduled to make his initial court appaearance on Tuesday.
Investigators believe that Joshua Ryan Bridgewaters, 36, spiked the drink of Stacey Buchanan, 33, doing so without her knowledge and resulting in her death. According to multiple sources, Buchanan was not a drug user.
Bridgewaters was charged last week with:
- Murder, a first-degree felony
- Obstructing justice, a second-degree felony
- Tampering with a witness, a third-degree felony
According to a probable cause statement, medical crews were called to a residence at about 7 p.m. on May 29, 2016, and found Buchanan on the bedroom floor, unconscious. She was transported to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Bridgewaters told investigators that he and Buchanan had been drinking wine from a bottle when she told him she was not feeling well. He said he assisted her while she vomited, and helped her take a cold shower. He then sought assistance from a neighbor, identified in court documents as B. Meyers, whom he knew to be a paramedic.
Meyers told investigators that in his work, ” … he had seen many cases of seizures, overdoses and death, and based on his experience, he believed Ms. Buchanan had been down for a while,” the probable cause statement says.
Buchanan had no pulse, was not breathing, and her lungs were full of fluid, Meyers said.
“Mr. Meyers told his son, who had accompanied them to the scene, to call 911, and asked Bridgewaters why he had not called 911.”
A guest, D. Richardson, who had been at the house for a barbecue with the couple, told investigators that he had been consuming marijuana provided by Bridgewaters, but no one else had.
Richardson said Buchanan and Bridgewaters had been drinking wine from a bottle, and decided to go out and buy beer. When the couple returned, Buchanan was walking stiffly and talking fast, Richardson said.
Officers spoke to Buchanan’s mother, R. Bingham, and one of her four children, a daughter, identified in court papers as L.B.
Bingham said Buchanan had called at about 4 p.m., saying someone had poisoned her drink, and asking for a ride home. The line then went dead. Bingham and L.B. said as they were driving over, they called Buchanan back, and heard her arguing with Bridgewaters, saying “stop it” and “stop grabbing my phone.”
Bridgewaters then took the phone, and told Bingham that Buchanan was just confused, and not to come. The call then disconnected.
On May 31, 2016, the medical examiner confirmed Buchanan’s cause of death to be from methamphetamine intoxication.
When officers spoke with Richardson that day, the paramedic told investigators that Bridgewaters had called him asking what he said to police so the two could match their stories, the probable cause statement says.
Richardson asked Bridgewaters what he had done, the statement says, and Bridgewaters reportedly said he was attempting to induce arousal when he spiked his girlfriend’s drink with meth.
“Bridgewaters stated it’s his word against a dead person,” the statement says. “Mr. Richardson reminded Bridgewaters that the police had his statement as well. Bridgewaters replied that he could tell the police that Ms. Buchanan’s death was Richardson’s fault.”
Richardson said he later learned from Buchanan’s family that she was not a drug user, which Bridgewaters confirmed to him. According to the statement, Bridgewaters then asked Richardson to take the blame for marijuana that police found, since Bridgewaters, a parolee, was not supposed to be around drugs.
Investigators never found the wine bottle from which the couple had been drinking.
