A Stafford County woman has been charged with felony murder as the result of a New Year’s Eve party following which an 18-year-old woman died.
Samantha Candy Marie Gehman, 39, of 800 Greentree Road is also charged with three counts of distributing Oxycontin. She was arrested Wednesday after being indicted by a special grand jury Monday, Sheriff’s spokesman Bill Kennedy said.
Jessica Lynn Proffitt, a 2007 graduate of King George High School, died Jan. 2 at Mary Washington Hospital. A medical examiner ruled the cause of death as “acute opiate toxicity.”
According to Kennedy, deputies went to the Days Inn at 14 Simpson Road after Proffitt’s boyfriend called 911 and reported that she was unresponsive and not breathing. Deputies performed CPR and took the victim to the hospital.
The investigation revealed that Gehman, Proffitt and two males rented a room at the motel to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Gehman, who worked part time for an elderly woman in Fauquier County, provided Oxycontin during the party.
Police searched the room and found 80 Oxycontin pills. The drugs had been prescribed to the spouse of the person who hired Gehman to care for the woman, Kennedy said.
Gehman is being held at the Rappahannock Regional Jail under no bond.