Area woman suspected of concealing prescription painkillers

A woman arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated attempted to hide prescription medication inside her body, Cape Girardeau County officers testified Friday.

Kathryn G. Drury, 47, was charged with felony possession of marijuana, tampering with physical evidence, and misdemeanor driving while intoxicated and failure to drive on the right side of the road.

She was arrested early in September when deputy Todd Stevens saw the vehicle she was driving east on County Road 314 travel into the lane of oncoming traffic and nearly strike a westbound vehicle.

Testifying before Judge Gary A. Kamp during a preliminary hearing for Drury Friday, Stevens said that the defendant appeared lethargic and under the influence of medication after he pulled her over.

Kamp continued the hearing until Nov. 2, by which time lab reports on the suspected drugs would be returned.

Drury admitted to the deputy that she had taken one pill of prescription pain medication. After conducting a field sobriety test, Stevens said he brought Drury back to the sheriff's office for a urine sample.

While watching over Drury in the bathroom, communications officer LaTasha Tidwell testified she found pills on the floor which were not there when the defendant was brought in.

In the back of Stevens' squad car, where Drury had been, the deputy found a generic Xanax drug.

Trooper Aaron Harrison testified that after seeing Drury tamper with a trash can in her cell, he found pills inside.

The pills found in both the bathroom and jail cell were hydrocodone, and all were suspected of being concealed in Drury's body cavities, according to a probable-cause statement.

The defendant told officers she hid the drugs because, although she a prescription for them, she feared going to jail for not having the pills in a prescription bottle, according to the statement.

kmorrison@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127