Bloomington teen charged as adult in 15-year-old girl's overdose death
MINNEAPOLIS -- A Minnesota teen will be charged as an adult in connection to the overdose death of a 15-year-old West St. Paul girl last year.
Parker Benson, of Bloomington, has been charged with one count of murder in the third degree. He was three months away from turning 18 when he allegedly sold a young girl the fentanyl pills that caused her death.
Court documents say the two spoke via text message and met outside a Walgreens pharmacy in West St. Paul on the evening of April 19, 2022. Benson would text her again later that evening with a warning to "only take like less than a quarter" a pill.
According to the criminal complaint, the girl's mother discovered her daughter facedown on her bed with a pill next to her; she would try to perform CPR on her until first responders arrived but to no avail. A subsequent toxicology report revealed fentanyl in the girl's blood.
Data from the Minnesota Department of Health shows fentanyl accounted for more than 90% of opioid-related overdoses. The MDH describes fentanyl as "a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine."
Benson is charged with one count of third-degree murder. His next court appearance is April 13.