Woman convicted of first degree reckless homicide, drug trafficking charges in relation to Ripon overdose | News

A former Ripon woman was convicted of first degree reckless homicide as a party to a crime, as well as eight other felonies today (Friday) in Fond du Lac County Circuit Court.

Carla M. Endeward, 55, was found guilty by a 12-person jury on all charges stemming from a fatal March 2020 overdose and two non-fatal April 2020 overdoses. Other charges in addition to the first degree reckless homicide as a party to a crime include four counts of maintaining a drug trafficking place, three counts of first degree recklessly endangering safety and obtaining a controlled substance by fraud.

Bond was revoked for Endeward following the verdict and a pre-sentence investigation report was ordered and the sentencing hearing will be set at a later date. Endeward faces more than 40 years of imprisonment and is currently incarcerated at Taycheedah Correctional in Fond du Lac.

“Fentanyl is a scourge in our society and has become a leading cause of death for young people, with a devastating impact in our communities that destroys families,” Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney said. “These verdicts won’t heal the wounds of those impacted, but will help protect our community while bringing a small measure of justice for the friends and family of Scott Endeward. The jury convicted the defendant for assisting in the setting up of drug deals, through phone calls and allowing others to use drugs and overdose in her residence. We will continue to aggressively prosecute those that pedal poison in our community and those that aid them.”

Ripon Police Chief Bill Wallner added “I want to thank the staff and investigators of our department [for] their dedication in this case. Their hard work and willingness to pursue this case shows the incredible staff that serves this community. We will continue to take cases like this very seriously and investigate them to provide some hope of closure to the family.”

In early March 2020, Ripon police officers were contacted by the Fond du Lac County medical examiner’s office regarding a suspicious death and were informed that Endeward brought her husband, Scott Endeward, to the emergency room at SSM Health Ripon Community Hospital.

When they arrived at the emergency room, the victim had no pulse and was not breathing, and healthcare providers were unable to revive him, a criminal complaint filed last September noted.

Healthcare professionals told police that Endeward said the victim was depressed and wanted to die, and that she had gotten into a disagreement with the victim before discovering him on the bed not breathing some time later, court documents state.

When law enforcement spoke to Endeward, she allegedly told police that she did not call 911 upon discovering the victim not breathing because she couldn’t find her phone and that the victim had gone out with friends before she fell asleep on the couch.

She also told police that the victim, who had a history of drug use, but was going to a Suboxone clinic in Milwaukee on Wednesdays, court documents said. Suboxone is a drug used to decrease the severity of withdrawal symptoms.

Police received consent to search Endeward’s residence and discovered crack and marijuana pipes, a digital scale, fentanyl prescriptions for the victim’s relatives and other drug paraphernalia, the complaint says.

When authorities interviewed Endeward’s downstairs neighbor, he allegedly told investigators that he awoke to Endeward and the victim near the front door, that the victim was still breathing and he suggested calling 911 but Endeward said it would be faster to take him to a hospital.

Two sources told investigators that the victim was still using heroin and that he had been receiving the drugs from Endeward, a supplier in Milwaukee and had recently been in contact with a “known heroin supplier in Ripon,” the complaint says.

One of the sources told investigators that Endeward was present when the first victim overdosed a week prior to his death, but they were able to revive him using Narcan, court documents said.

Authorities received the victim’s autopsy and toxicology reports in mid-March 2020, which allegedly found the cause of death to be cocaine, fentanyl, Flualprazolam, and Isotonitazene toxicity and the manner of death was accidental.

Endeward was taken into custody in late April 2020 for a probation warrant and police seized a cell phone on her person, per court records.

During an interview with authorities following her arrest, Endeward allegedly said she had gone to Milwaukee to pick up heroin and cocaine “a couple” times and that the victim had gone to Milwaukee the day before his death.

Asked about the time gap between finding the victim and contacting the downstairs neighbor, Endeward told investigators she was trying to do CPR and call a friend to bring Narcan as she knew he was using, the complaint said.

She allegedly went on to tell police that she didn’t call 911 because, “I was just freaking out and I couldn’t find my phone,” and that she wanted to get the victim to a hospital.

Endeward also admitted to buying drugs with the victim in Milwaukee the day before his overdose, and said the victim went back to Milwaukee for drugs the day he overdosed, the complaint says.

Police performed a forensic examination of both the victim and Endeward’s cell phones, which found the two did go to Milwaukee the day before his overdose and confirmed that the victim called Endeward on his trip to Milwaukee the following day.

Additionally, further investigation found that Endeward picked up a Suboxone prescription for the victim one day after the victim died, the complaint says.

Prior to her arrest, Endeward was present for an overdose by a second victim in early April 2020, according to court documents.

Law enforcement arrived at Endeward’s residence and found a man on the kitchen floor and administered one dose of Narcan, which made the man responsive again, the complaint noted.

About a week later, police were dispatched to the same residence to respond to a possible overdose of the same man, who was on the bathroom floor and turning blue, court documents say.

Police administered two doses of Narcan and were able to revive the individual, as well as discovered a hypodermic syringe on the floor near the subject, court records noted.

Several days later, the Ripon Police Department received a call from the second victim’s parole agent who informed the department that the victim gave her a full statement confessing that Endeward provided drugs to him, per the complaint.

“On April 14, I was given heroin by Carla at her place,” a written statement from the second victim to law enforcement reads. “I overdosed and she called 911. On April 19, I was given heroin by Carla and overdosed. She called emergency services; I was revived and transported to the hospital.”

Endeward previously has been convicted for possession of narcotics in Milwaukee County in 2016 and maintaining a drug trafficking place in Fond du Lac County in 2017.

Joe Schulz did the initial reporting on this story.