Man charged with homicide after $12 sale of fentanyl kills Tri-Cities area man

A 41-year-old man is accused of delivering a $12 dose of fentanyl that killed a Benton City man in 2024.

Investigators believe Dustin H. Shearer sold the potent drugs to Steven Taylor, 35, just hours before he was found dead in his bed, court documents said.

Shearer is one of an increasing number of people charged in Tri-Cities with controlled substances homicide for delivering a fatal amount of an illegal drug.

Lately, it has been used to target people who deliver fentanyl. The Tri-Cities, like many communities nationwide, has struggled for several years with a continuing number of deadly fentanyl overdoses.

The synthetic opioid is 100 times more potent than morphine and hundreds of times stronger than street-level heroin, federal officials have said.

Fentanyl was responsible in at least some way for 46 of the 54 overdose deaths in Benton County in 2024, according to the Benton County coroner.

While Franklin County prosecutors filed two cases in 2024, the last time Benton County prosecutors charged anyone with controlled substances homicide was in 2022.

Shearer is now being held in the Benton County jail in lieu of $100,000 bail in connection with Taylor’s death.

Fentanyl overdose

An examination of Taylor’s cellphone records showed he asked Shearer for more “purple” about 9:20 p.m. on Aug. 24, 2024, according to court records.

Investigators believe that was purple-colored fentanyl, which was found inside aluminum foil stuck inside a cigar box in Taylor’s bedroom, court documents said.

After some negotiating, Taylor and Shearer settle on a price of $12 for the drug. They agreed to meet about 12:45 a.m. on Aug. 25, court documents said.

Taylor lived with his mother in Benton City, and she told authorities he was asleep in his bedroom later that afternoon when she check on him at 3:30 and again about 5 p.m.

At 7 p.m. she went into his room to get him for dinner when she noticed blood on this face and that he was cold to the touch, court documents said. Paramedics believed he had died about 5:30 p.m.

When police searched his room, they found materials used to smoke fentanyl, as well as a small bag of what appeared to be methamphetamine.

An autopsy confirmed he died from a fentanyl overdose, said the documents.

This story was originally published April 14, 2025 at 12:43 PM.