By Luisa Loi
La Conner Community News
A 44-year-old Mount Vernon man was charged last week in connection with the fatal overdose of a La Conner woman in March.
Skagit County Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Trisha Johnson requested that Caleb Nathan Cain be charged with controlled substance homicide and delivery of controlled substance.
The victim, a 57-year-old, was found deceased on March 8 in her La Conner home. The family asked La Conner Community News not to publish her name and declined to comment.
Cain was arraigned on Aug. 27 in the Skagit County Superior Court, and his bail was set at $300,000. A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 24.
Investigators found 2.4 grams of fentanyl on the scene. After a warrant was approved to search the victim’s phone, they found that a contact — who cooperated with the investigation — mistakenly gave her a bag of fentanyl on March 7, rather than the cocaine they had agreed on. After realizing the mistake, the contact sent multiple texts to warn the victim and knocked on her door, but left after not getting a response.
The woman was discovered the next day. According to the coroner’s report, she died from “drug death-acute intoxication due to acute combined fentanyl and cocaine intoxication.”
Investigators believe the fentanyl came from Cain, who sold it to the cooperating witness, who then sold it to the victim.
Caleb Cain was arrested on Aug. 14 in Mount Vernon and booked for drug and firearm related offenses. Investigators searched his phone and found messages he exchanged with the cooperating witness on March 7.
Luisa Loi is a general assignment reporter for La Conner Community News.
