Home » Courts » Homicide charged for overdose

Homicide charged for overdose

Suspected dealer in jail for fentanyl death

By Robert Cloud


District Attorney Veronica Isherwood filed charges Tuesday, Sept. 11, against a Waushara County man accused of causing Eric Modrow’s death last year.

Shawen M. Jones, 32, town of Leon, is charged with reckless homicide by delivery of drugs, delivery of narcotics and felony bail jumping.

Jones faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted of reckless homicide.

On May 12, 2017, Waupaca County sheriff’s deputies responded to a call from Lind Center Road in the town of Lind.

Modrow’s mother found the 40-year-old Mudrow dead in an RV trailer parked on the family’s property.

Modrow was lying face down on a bed in the back of the trailer.

Deputies found a beer can fashioned into a smoking device and a piece of aluminum foil with burnt residue.

Beside the bed was a mobile phone plugged into a charger with numerous missed calls and texts.

The phone call logs indicated three calls from Modrow to Jones on the day of his death. The last call was at 9:31 a.m.

An autopsy on May 18, 2017, found the cause of death to be opioid toxicity due to fentanyl.

Coroner Barry Tomaras told the lead investigator, Detective Sgt. Timothy Myers, that he found signs of pulmonary edema, indicating that Modrow experienced extreme shortness of breath prior to his death. This symptom is common with fatal opioid overdoses.

On May 25, 2017, Modrow’s brother-in-law left a phone message for Myers. The message accused Jones of supplying drugs to Modrow.

A search of Modrow’s trailer found a bindle, which is a folded piece of paper used to package 0.1 gram or a single hit of heroin.

The paper was coated as if it was taken from a magazine.

At this point, authorities did not have enough evidence to successfully prosecute Jones.

On June 25, 2018, Modrow’s mother called and said her granddaughter, Angelina Magruder, had been arrested for a probation violation.

She said Magruder recently confided with her that she saw Modrow leaving Jones’ home on the day of his death.

On June 26, Myers spoke with Magruder at the Waupaca County Jail.

According to the criminal complaint, Magruder purchased a bindle of heroin laced with fetanyl from Jones at his home around 11 a.m. on May 12, 2016, the day Modrow died.

Magruder described the heroin they purchased from Jones as very potent.

She reportedly told Myers that she usually uses one bindle for one hit, but she was able to get six hits from this one bindle due to its potency.

She described the bindle she bought from Jomes as a folded piece of magazine-like paper.

Magruder said she saw Modrow driving his red Ford Mustang away from Jones’ home as they were driving to it on May 12, 2016, the complaint says.

Myers reported that Magruder admitted to buying heroin from Jones as recently as June 20, 2018, the day she was scheduled to meet her probation agent.

On July 3, 2018, officers executed a search warrant at Jones’ home in Waushara County.

They reported finding 4.9 grams of heroin and fentanyl, as well as marijuana, LSD and clonazepam, a sedative that can cause death when mixed with alcohol.

“That case took a lot of work to put together,” Isherwood told the Waupaca County Post. “Officers found heroin laced with fentanyl. Just like what the deceased had in his system. That was the final piece.”

Jones was arrested following the raid on his home and remains in Waupaca County jail on a $20,000 cash bond.

At the time of his arrest, Jones was on probation for 2016 convictions for criminal trespass, theft and disorderly conduct.

Also on July 3, Isherwood filed a motion to revoke Jones’ deferred prosecution agreement for a burglary charge that was part of the 2016 criminal case.

The agreement was set to expire on Sept. 15, 2018.

As a result of the drug seizures on July 3, Jones was charged in Waushara County with possession of narcotics, possession of LSD, illegal possession of prescription drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia.

A plea hearing on the Waushara County charges is scheduled for Oct. 8.

An adjourned initial appearance in Waupaca county is set for Sept. 18.

Scroll to Top