Las Vegas man arrested on murder charges in fentanyl overdose deaths

A Las Vegas man has been arrested on two counts of second-degree murder in the fentanyl overdose deaths of a mother and son in August, according to police records.

Charles Jackson, 40, was booked on Thursday at the Clark County Detention Center.

A Las Vegas police arrest report for Jackson indicates that on Aug. 11, two people, identified by police as Andrew White and Misty Turner, were found dead at an apartment in the 3600 block of Paradise Road. Police said the mother and son were found by a family member.

“During a search of the apartment, detectives located 3.5 grams of pink purported fentanyl powder contained within a folded-up piece of paper behind the television in the living room,” police said.

Tests later confirmed that the drug was fentanyl. The drug is 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine. The Clark County coroner’s office determined in September that White, 24, died from fentanyl toxicity and Turner, 44, died from fentanyl and methamphetamine toxicity.

Police said they collected phones at the scene of the fatalities and that the day before the deaths, White exchanged texts with Jackson. Police redacted the text conversation from the arrest report, saying only that the text messages “confirm White and Jackson’s involvement in the illegal sale of controlled substances” and that Jackson also “sent White a photograph of pink-colored narcotics that looked very similar to the pink-colored narcotics” found in the apartment on Paradise.

Detectives arrested Jackson on Thursday at an apartment in the 3500 block of University Center Drive. Police said Jackson agreed to talk to them and that he at first said he did not know White or Turner. Police said Jackson later changed his account, saying he did meet with a man he knew only as “CJ” and a woman in August during a narcotics transaction.

“Jackson described the bag of pink fentanyl and its appearance, stating that he didn’t know what it was,” police wrote in the arrest report. “Jackson traded ‘CJ’ the bag of pink fentanyl for about seven grams of marijuana.”

Jackson remained in custody at the detention center Monday. His bail has been set at $250,000. Court records do not indicate whether he has retained an attorney. A status hearing in the case is scheduled to take place on Tuesday in Las Vegas Justice Court.

Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.