Woman charged in fiance’s fatal overdose

A Vanlue woman was charged with involuntary manslaughter Tuesday in connection with the overdose death of her fiance.

Ashton Shull, age unknown, was indicted by a Hancock County grand jury for involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony; corrupting another with drugs, a second-degree felony; and two counts of aggravated possession of drugs, both fifth-degree felonies.

Shull allegedly caused the death of Tony Buxton, 27, of Mount Blanchard, on Aug. 20, according to County

Prosecutor Phil Riegle. Buxton was found at his residence on County Road 26 in Amanda Township, Riegle said.

According to Riegle, Shull allegedly furnished Buxton with Carfentanil, reportedly 10,000 times more potent than morphine, and U-47700, also a synthetic opioid.

On the same day, Shull allegedly possessed unspecified amounts of the same drugs, the prosecutor said.

A coroner’s report on Buxton’s death was not available Tuesday, but Riegle said the cause of death was drug toxicity.

According to Shull’s Facebook profile, she had been engaged to Buxton since September 2015.

Shull is the second person to be recently charged in connection with the overdose death of another.

Nathan S. Brown, 28, was charged in December for the overdose death of Jarrod T. Barger, 24, in Liberty Township.

Brown is accused of administering Fentanyl to Barger, according to the indictment.

Autopsy results for Barger revealed that the cause of death was cocaine and Fentanyl toxicity, according to the county coroner’s report.

METRICH conducted the overdose investigations.

Originally published in The Courier on February 8, 2017.