Suspected drug overdose leads to Pasco homicide arrest

A Pasco man was arrested this weekend after his friend died from a suspected drug overdose.

Michael E. Murray, 69, was booked Saturday morning into the Franklin County jail on suspicion of controlled substance homicide.

He was released two days later — just after 12:30 p.m. Monday — without appearing in court.

Prosecutors opted to let Murray go free while they await Pasco police reports and toxicology results before deciding whether to file charges for the death of Jeffrey K. Jones.

Police Sgt. Scott Warren said officers were dispatched at 4:05 a.m. Saturday to Murray’s home at 815 W. Park St.

The caller told 911 dispatchers that they were performing CPR on an unresponsive man.

Warren could not release any further information Monday, saying it is an active homicide investigation at this point.

Autopsy planned Tuesday

Jones, 63, lived in Pasco, said Franklin County Coroner Curtis McGary, who said his office was called out Saturday morning.

An autopsy will be done Tuesday by Dr. Sig Menchel, a forensic pathologist from Bellevue.

Blood samples will then be sent to the Washington State Patrol crime lab for testing to determine what drugs were in Jones’ system at the time he died.

It may be several months before investigators have those results because of an ongoing backlog at the state Toxicology Laboratory.

This story was originally published January 28, 2019 at 10:27 AM.