Woman charged in overdose deaths of Perry County men

ST. MARY, Mo. -- A woman is facing felony charges in connection with the Oct. 20 deaths of two Perry County men.

Sandra M. Dallas, 56, of St. Mary is accused of supplying methadone to Travis M. Welty, 42, and Darin G. Reid, 55, on Oct. 19, just hours before the two men died.

Dallas was charged Dec. 7 in Ste. Genevieve County Circuit Court with two counts of first-degree involuntary manslaughter and three counts of distributing a controlled substance in connection with the case.

According to a probable-cause statement filed Dec. 5 by Lt. Lance White of the Ste. Genevieve County Sheriff's Department, Michelle Boner contacted Detective Jon Lanier of the Perryville Police Department to report Welty and Reid's deaths might have been caused by an overdose of methadone supplied to them "by a woman known to her as Sandy."

Boner told Lanier and Detective Jason Klaus of the Perry County Sheriff's Department she had driven Reid and Welty to St. Mary to look at houses to buy, White wrote.

She told the detectives they met a woman named Sandy who had a trailer for sale. While they were looking at the trailer, they discussed drugs, and Sandy -- whom White later identified as Dallas -- sold the men three doses of methadone each, for $5 per dose, then gave them each an extra dose, White wrote.

Boner told detectives the men consumed the methadone, and then she took Reid to his house in Perry County before driving Welty to a Perryville, Mo., residence, where he passed out and later died, White wrote.

A toxicology report showed Welty tested positive for methadone, White wrote.

Lanier and White interviewed Welty's mother, who said a day or two after her son's death, a woman identifying herself as Sandy called, wanting to sell Welty her mobile home, and did not seem to grasp that Welty was dead, White wrote.

The woman left Welty's mother her address and phone number because she was trying to sell her home, White wrote.

In a Dec. 6 conversation with White, Dallas admitted Welty, Boner and Reid had been at her home once and "made incriminating statements such as she felt 'so guilty' for letting them get hold of her methadone," White wrote.

At a Perryville Board of Aldermen meeting Tuesday night, Lt. Direk Hunt, interim chief of the Perryville Police Department, commended the officers involved in the case for cooperating across jurisdictional boundaries to bring closure to the men's families.

"Based on this, two families have answers on what happened to their loved ones," he said.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

St. Mary, Mo.

Perryville, Mo.