Two people were arrested by Palm Bay Police Department detectives this week in connection with two separate fentanyl-related overdoses in the city, according to a police report. Both suspects are being charged with first-degree murder.
Palm Bay Police Department detectives on April 18 announced two arrest in connection with two separate fentanyl-related overdoses in the city in 2024, according to a police report.
In the first case, Charles Mariner, 38, was arrested on April 14. Detectives said that Mariner delivered narcotics to 34-year-old Ryan White, who was found dead of an overdose on Jan. 5, 2024.
Police said White was found slumped over on the floor of his bedroom between his bed and his wheelchair. A tan powdery substance found on his bedside table tested positive for fentanyl, according to the arrest report.
Text messages, payments through the money transfer service CashApp and home security footage led to the arrest of Mariner in connection with White’s death. In the other case, police arrested 23-year-old John Garcia in connection with the overdose death of Alexandre Cota De Magalhaes, 52, on May 22, 2024, when officers responded to his home on Argosy Street. Magalhaes was found by roommates in his rented bedroom alongside a rolled-up $100 bill. with a white powdery substance found in the victim’s bathroom, according to a police report.
Detectives said text messages on Magalhaes’s phone showed a planned drug purchase had been arranged with Garcia.
Both suspects are being held at the Brevard County Jail Complex without bond and are being charged first-degree murder, a capital felony punishable by life in prison or the death penalty.
Tyler Vazquez is the Brevard County Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-480-0854 or tvazquez@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @tyler_vazquez.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Police: Alleged Palm Bay dealers face murder charges in overdose deaths