North Haven Man, 35, Charged In Fatal Overdose: East Haven Police

North Haven CT

25 February, 2022

10:46 AM

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EAST HAVEN, CT — That March morning nearly a year ago, a grandmother had gone into her granddaughter's bedroom to feed her pet guinea pigs. There, she found the 21-year-old in her bed, dead. The young woman had suffered a fatal overdose, officials said. The last Internet search on the young woman's phone was, "the effects of snorting heroin." After working on the case since last winter, with the help of the FBI and DEA, East Haven police arrested and charged a North Haven man on Dec. 29, 2021, in connection with her death. Patch filed a Freedom of Information request for all police reports associated with the case when it was learned that Kyle Sarcione, 35, was released on a high bail. Earlier this month, East Haven Police Department Capt. Joseph M. Murgo forwarded those reports. Police hope to 'send a message' "Our stance on this is clear. If you take any part in facilitating a sale of fentanyl that results in an overdose death, we will do our best to prosecute you," Murgo said. "We are seeing far too many people dying as a result of fentanyl use. This is truly an epidemic." Murgo said that arrests in the cases of fatal overdoses are "few and far between," and with this case, police hope to "send a message." "We as an agency have made a commitment to thoroughly investigate every fatal overdose that occurs in the town of East Haven," he said. "We owe it to the families of overdose victims and to our community as a whole." After an autopsy by the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the young woman's cause of death was attributed to "acute and chronic substance abuse due to the combined effects of Heroin, Fentanyl, fluoxetine, and trazodone." The latter two drugs were prescribed to the woman. Fluoxetine is an anti-depressant and trazadone is an anti-depressant and sedative. The following narrative of what occurred, and what led police to charge Sarcione, is based on the Superior Court charging documents obtained by Patch: At around 10 p.m. March 9, 2021, a friend of the 21-year-old picked her up from her job at a Stop & Shop in Hamden. The two drove to a convenience store and gas station, where they were often able to buy "hard," a street name for crack cocaine. The friend told police that the woman called Sarcione, a person the woman had "met somehow" on the Internet, she said. Sarcione put her in touch with a person in Meriden who could supply drugs. The two women drove there and purchased crack and heroin. At his request, they then drove to Sarcione's house in North Haven to do the drugs together. The two women left his home in the early morning hours. The friend said she dropped the woman off at her East Haven home at around 2:40 a.m. The friend told the police that was the last time she saw her alive. Her grandparents and her mother spoke to the police that next morning. They said she'd come in around 2 a.m., and "went downstairs to smoke weed." Her mother told police that at 7 a.m., her daughter was alive, albeit asleep. Later that morning, the grandmother went into the bedroom to feed the guinea pigs and found her granddaughter in her bed with "foam all over her mouth." An East Haven police investigation began that would involve assistance from federal authorities. Police found an empty cigarette pack with 13 pink wax-type small bags of "suspected" heroin. After a field test, they learned it contained fentanyl. From cell phone data, East Haven police investigators learned that the woman and Sarcione met via the MeetMe app and began communicating via text. Police found texts from the woman to Sarcione that read: "Lookin for hard smh u knows anyone?" Sarcione responded: "Crack ? Really u don't look like someone that dose (sic) that. But yes I do." "So I need 50 of hard and 40 of paper," police found she'd texted to Sarcione. "Hard," is a street name for crack, and "paper" is a street name for heroin. In the Superior Court documents, based on their investigation and these text exchanges, police said that Sarcione had "facilitated the narcotics' transaction" which led to the fatal overdose. Sarcione was charged with conspiracy to commit the sale of narcotics and accessory to the sale of a narcotic substance. He's been out on $100,000 bond since his arrest. He is due in court in late March. Read the redacted Superior Court Arrest Warrant Application obtained by Patch via the Freedom of Information Act here: Kyle Sarcione Superior Cour... by Ellyn Santiago > Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly listed Sarcione's age as 37. He is 35.