June 4, 2018 at 4:49 p.m.
Man pleads not guilty in heroin overdose death
Man pleads not guilty in heroin overdose death
By Abigail Bostwick-
Chad A. Goll remains in the Vilas County Jail on a $25,000 bond. Court records list his address as Eagle River, although previous addresses indicate he was living in Rhinelander at the time of the crime. He'd formerly lived in Racine.
Goll appeared for a preliminary hearing where evidence was heard against him on a charge of first-degree reckless homicide, three counts manufacture/deliver heroin and possession with intent to deliver heroin, all felonies, as well as possession of drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor.
According to the criminal complaint, Daniel Norton, 26, Eagle River, was found unresponsive March 22 in a town of Lincoln residence in Vilas County.
When deputies arrived, Norton was already enroute to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead. An autopsy would reveal he died of a heroin overdose, court records say.
After several periods of questioning and a varying account of events, a 28-year-old Eagle River woman told Vilas County police that she, Goll and Norton had gotten together the night prior to the death at a residence she was moving out of.
Norton was allegedly upset concerning an ex and Goll had come to the house "... to sell drugs." The house belonged to her ex-boyfriend's mother, she said. The woman said when she went to bed, Goll and Norton were "... talking, joking around, arguing and messing around," court reports say.
The Eagle River woman said she later found Norton in a bedroom with "...white foam coming from his mouth and bubbles coming from his nose." He was breathing faintly and she flagged Goll down from leaving in his car, she told police. She then called 911.
The woman consented to a search of the residence upon police arrival. Court records note responding detectives and deputies realized during the search that the woman's initial story did not seem to be "adding up."
Located in the search were wet marks on the bed consistent with fluids from Norton's body, his personal belongings and a clear plastic bag with a leafy green substance consistent with marijuana. A detective pressed the woman for more details and she reportedly admitted she'd cleaned up two "tooters" (emptied pen cartridges used to snort drugs) as well as placing straws and wrappers into the garbage before police arrived.
Law enforcement recovered from the trash a "tooter with a white powdery residue."
Also admitted to evidence were a Naloxone prescription bottle as well as Norton's wallet, keys and USB drives.
Vilas County detective Emily Miller testified at Tuesday's preliminary hearing.
"Initial information was that (the Eagle River woman) came home to the residence ... Dan had been snoring but wasn't (later) ... he appeared to be needing an ambulance," she said on the stand, referring to the statements she'd first heard from the Eagle River woman. There were inconsistencies in the woman's story, she added.
"(The woman) stated that Chad Goll was the individual that supplied the heroin to Daniel Norton," she testified in response to questions from District Attorney Martha Milanowski. The woman didn't know where Goll got the heroin, Miller said.
Goll's attorney, Lee Schuchart, questioned Miller as to what Norton's autopsy had revealed, specifically if he had more than heroin in his system at the time of death.
"He tested positive for heroin," Miller stated.
Schuchart pointed out the residue found on the "tooter" was heroin cut with oxycodone. He also indicated the crime scene may have been "contaminated" when the Eagle River woman "cleaned up."
Also testifying was Vilas County deputy Zac Stern, drug K-9 handler. He noted on the stand that during another Vilas County incident involving Goll and a woman who had overdosed on drugs, his K-9 partner alerted to drugs inside the vehicle Goll was operating. Inside was a backpack identified as the same one Goll had around the Norton scene. The woman survived involved in the earlier incident survived.
The autopsy of Norton included in the criminal complaint states morphine, heroin, codeine, cocaine and methamphetamine were all found in his body. There was "no definitive competing cause of death identified," according to the UW-Health pathology lab report by Robert Corliss, MD.
Judge Neal Nielsen III will hear a pre-trial motion Aug. 14 in the case.
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