The two men who were arrested in connection with the death of Christine Englehardt earlier this year are now facing homicide charges, the Miami Herald reported. Englehardt, a native of Pennsylvania, was killed during a Spring Break trip.
On Tuesday, Miami prosecutors announced that they are weighing charges for Evoire Collier and Dorian Taylor after an autopsy revealed that Englehardt died due to a mix of alcohol and fentanyl. The men previously admitted that they gave the victim a green pill. The suspects were initially charged with sexual battery, burglary and theft.
Englehardt, 24, was found dead in a South Beach hotel room. On March 18, the men were seen on surveillance, walking her back to her room after Spring Break gallivanting. Investigators believed that they drugged and raped her and then stole her phone and credit cards before leaving her.
When the men were arrested, police confiscated leftover green pills that the suspects said they believed to be Percocet and oxycodone. After laboratory testing, the pills contained fentanyl at levels high enough to be lethal. The medical examiner’s report also attributed a prone position as a contributing factor to the drug and alcohol-fueled death.
Although Englehardt had traces of cocaine, marijuana and amphetamine, the medical examiner believed the small amounts played little significance in her death. Her alcohol level, .197, was double the legal limit. It was not reported that the men are connected with those drugs.
Detectives have testified in court hearings that Englehardt seemed unable to give the suspects consent.
Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Alberto Milian has asked prosecutors if the report’s findings, released Friday, was a homicide. Prosecutors could not give a definitive answer. A 2017 law passed in Florida makes it easier to charge someone with murder if they supply them with drugs like fentanyl.
The men are currently still being held in jail without bond. They are both being represented by their own separate attorneys.
