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A Destin man is being held in a Kentucky jail cell, awaiting extradition back to Okaloosa County where he faces active warrants for committing murder while engaged in a felony offense.
30-year old William Tylor Kendall of 4207 Indian Bayou Trail was picked up Tuesday in Bowling Green Kentucky.
Emergency responders were called to the home the night of December 16, 2015 in response to a drug overdose. They found 28-year old Barbara Thomas unconscious on the floor. She later was pronounced dead at Sacred Heart Hospital of the Emerald Coast. The Medical Examiner’s Office ruled that Thomas died from acute fentanyl (heroin) intoxication.
Kendall says he met Thomas last fall at a drug rehab center in Kentucky. She was released November 28 and headed to a second recovery center/ halfway house in West Palm Beach Florida
On December 10th Kendall traveled to West Palm Beach and convinced Thomas to leave the half-way house there and travel with him back to Destin to live.
Kendall says both he and Thomas had been addicted to heroin over the years, but at the time of her departure from West Palm Beach she had sober for 55 days.
On December 15th Kendall persuaded the victim to use heroin with him stating “There is no greater high than getting high together with the one you love for the first time.” He also said he knew she would follow his direction and that he had the power in the relationship. They purchased what they believed to be heroin in south Okaloosa County, and went back to the Destin apartment to inject it, where Kendall later passed out. He says when he woke up he found Thomas unconscious on the floor.
Heroin in the local area is often cut with Fentanyl, or sold as heroin. It is a potent opioid estimated to have 50 times the potency of pure, pharmaceutical grade heroin and about 100 times the potency of morphine.
Investigators say Kendall admitted he has an in-depth knowledge of the dangers and effects of heroin and opiate use to include the possibility of death, he knew it is commonly cut with other narcotics, and he pushed the thought of getting high with the victim.
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