CHARLOTTE — Channel 9 uncovered that a murder suspect at the Mecklenburg County jail died after being given the wrong medication.
Channel 9’s crime reporter Hunter Sáenz recently got the autopsy report about the in-custody death that happened August, which was when detention officers found Miguel Angel Gonzales-Rosales, 38, dead in his cell.
Gonzalez-Rasalas was charged with killing a woman, who was his neighbor in 2023.
The homicide suspect died inside his jail cell at the Mecklenburg County jail because he was given somebody else’s medication, according to the autopsy report.
Laura Miller was brutally killed in 2023 at this east Charlotte apartment complex.
Miller’s mother told Sáenz on Wednesday over the phone, she was a ray of sunshine who was always helping and giving to others.
After the homicide, Gonzalez-Rasalas was arrested and charged with murder and sent to the Mecklenburg County jail where he died.
Sáenz was tipped off that he should investigate the man’s death, so he requested the autopsy report.
He got the report Wednesday.
The medical examiner said Gonzalez-Rasalas “was unintentionally administered a recently discharged inmate’s methadone dose” … “a potent opioid usually given for opioid use disorder.”
Doctors say that large dose that he was given told his brain and lungs to slow down and basically stop working. Gonzalez-Rasalas died in his cell.
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Sáenz contacted the director of Public Policy at Disability Rights North Carolina because Gonzalez-Rasalas was supposed to be getting medication for bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder, not an opioid.
“We should be able to expect that people get the right medications and that when someone hands you medication, you should be able to take it without fearing for your life,” said Corye Dunn, director of Public Policy at Disability Rights North Carolina.
Dunn said she hopes policies at the jail will be reviewed.
“It’s important that we hold them to high standards,” Dunn said.
Sáenz reached out to the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s office with several questions, including how was this able to happen and what, if any policies, are being made to prevent this from happening again.
Sáenz also asked similar questions to Vital Core Health Strategies, the healthcare company contracted with the jail that provides care to inmates.
They didn’t get back to him.
For Miller’s mother, this brings closure to their family knowing her accused killer will never be back on the streets.
The autopsy ruled the inmate’s death as an accident.
The Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office sent a statement that stated officials could not comment because multiple state and internal investigations are being conducted.
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