First-Degree Murder Charges Filed Against Men In Death Of 24-Year-Old Bucks County Woman In Miami Beach
RICHBORO, Pa. (CBS/AP) -- Two North Carolina men accused of raping a 24-year-old from Bucks County while she was on spring break in Miami Beach are now charged with first-degree murder. CBS Miami reports a grand jury in Miami-Dade County found Evoire Collier, 21, and Dorian Taylor, 25, both from Greensboro, North Carolina, responsible for the fentanyl-induced death of Christine Englehardt of Richboro in March.
Englehardt met the men while visiting South Beach, and went with them to her room at the Albion Hotel, prosecutors said.
Taylor is also now facing a second first-degree murder charge for supplying the same opioid to 21-year-old Walter Riley, from Chicago, according to the grand jury report. Riley was found unconscious on a nearby street and died March 20, two days after Englehardt was found unresponsive in her hotel room, the Miami Herald reported.
According to CBS Miami, the three-page grand jury report accuses the pair of killing Englehardt with their "unlawful distribution of fentanyl" while committing sexual battery and burglary. The men allegedly took Englehardt's credit cards and made illegal purchases at SOBE Liquors and the Sugar Factory.
Collier's attorney, Phil Reizenstein, told the Herald he's "stunned" by the indictment. He said the medical examiner found Englehardt had ingested so many different drugs that it was nearly impossible to pin down what caused her death.
"I think they're going to regret doing this," said Reizenstein. "I think by the time I'm finished with them, they're never going to be able to say she died of this."
The two men were arrested on March 21 and remain jailed in Miami, according to jail records.
Officials say the two North Carolina men who allegedly met Englehardt at a restaurant, and at some point, slipped her a green pill. It isn't clear if it was given to her unknowingly, or if she took it willingly. But next, the men were both seen on surveillance video at her hotel walking the victim to her room. Police do not believe they had consent to go inside.
"They had sex with her multiple times and once she was unconscious, or out, they remained inside the unit. Did not call for assistance or help and began to take all her items from inside the apartment," Miami Police Detective Luis Alsina said.
Hotel staff found the 24-year-old's half-naked body the following day and called the police.
The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner determined the pilled ingested by Englehardt were "rapidly fatal" fentanyl, CBS Miami reported.
The autopsy also found that her alcohol level when she died hovered near 2.0, almost three times the legal limit, and asphyxia may have played a role in her death, the Miami Herald reported.
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)