Grand jury declines to charge man with murder in teen’s overdose death

A Clark County grand jury has declined to indict a man on a murder charge after police accused him of supplying drugs to a 13-year-old girl who overdosed last year.

Daniella Young died Oct. 13 at her Summerlin home from fentanyl toxicity and recent cocaine and meth use, according to the Clark County coroner’s office.

According to a Metropolitan Police Department arrest report, a monthlong investigation revealed that 32-year-old Marcas Crowley was using Snapchat to advertise his sales of cocaine, ecstasy and Percocet.

Detectives believe that Crowley met Daniella over Snapchat on Sept. 5, when he messaged the teen “who need percs,” according to the police report. She replied: “not (right now) but I’ll (hit you up) when I get money.”

On Sept. 16, Daniella sent four explicit photos to Crowley using the app, police said. Friends told investigators that Daniella would “trade sex for narcotics because she didn’t have a way to pay for them,” according to the arrest report.

Officers believe Crowley was the last person to see Daniella alive after the two hung out at a park a half-mile from Daniella’s house on the night of Oct. 12.

Crowley was indicted in December on five felony counts, including lewdness with a child, possession of visual porn, permitting a minor to produce porn, child abuse and sale of a controlled substance. His bail was set at $100,000 with a condition that if he posted bail, he would not be allowed to contact any minors or have access to the internet.

At the time of his arrest, he told police that Daniella said she was 17.

On Thursday, grand jurors returned a superseding indictment, declining to indict Crowley on a murder charge and adding his drug charge to include the sale of fentanyl.

His lawyer, Craig Mueller, could not be reached for comment.

Crowley is among at least five people arrested in overdose deaths last year who were accused of using Snapchat to advertise drug sales, but he is the only one of the five not facing a murder charge.

“What I think is troubling is these dealers know that there’s a potential market of young users on social media,” prosecutor Eckley Keach said in a December interview. “They can send product to these individuals who are often unaware of the risks associated with buying drugs off the street.”

Keach declined to comment Thursday after the grand jury returned its decision.

Among the four who were charged with murder, all are awaiting trial. Crowley is scheduled to appear in court again Jan. 24.

Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.