Police say alleged drug dealer texted: I killed sum one
PORTSMOUTH - Police investigating a drug overdose death said the woman who allegedly sold the victim heroin had texted her mother saying, "I killed sum one."
Details about the text messages come from an affidavit submitted by the investigating Detective Timothy McCain in the case against Amanda Burgess, who's been charged in connection with the death of Joseph Cahill, a 27-year-old father.
The alleged texts were retrieved from Burgess's mother's phone after the mother went to police.
"I just watch sum one die rite in front of me," reads another section of the text, which continued, saying she was expecting to catch a bus and was lying low until then.
Burgess was located and arrested in Cherryfield, Maine, after Portsmouth police made a request on social media for information on her whereabouts.
According to the affidavit, police responded to an emergency call reporting a woman screaming. A second call from the same address reported a man in cardiac arrest. Police said they arrived to find Cahill's sister in hysterics, and Cahill unconscious on the bathroom floor along with drug paraphernalia.
Attempts to revive Cahill were unsuccessful, and the sister, Jamie Cahill, told police her brother was a recovering heroin addict but that she suspected he had relapsed because of his secretive behavior and the presence of the drug paraphernalia. She mentioned that her brother had received several calls from a woman named Amanda, who also was an addict.
Police said when they later interviewed Burgess, she admitted she'd sold Cahill a bag with $40 worth of heroin the night before he overdosed. She also said she'd been with him when he shot up, but that she panicked and left when he became unconscious, the affidavit indicates.
Police have asked that cash bail be required for Burgess because they say she is a flight risk, given she'd fled to Maine and has family in Connecticut but no real ties to New Hampshire.
