Murder Charge Filed In 15-Year-Old WSP Girl's Fentanyl Death

WEST ST. PAUL, MN — A 17-year-old boy from Bloomington is accused of killing a 15-year-old West St. Paul girl by giving her a fatal dose of fentanyl.

Parker J. Benson has been charged by juvenile petition with one count of murder in the third degree. Prosecutors have filed a motion to certify Benson as an adult.

According to investigators, a mother told police that after going to bed at 11 p.m. on April 20, she woke up and noticed a light coming from her daughter's bedroom. The mother entered to find her daughter face down on her bed with a blue pill next to her, authorities said.

The mother rolled her over and saw that her daughter was blue in the face, so she called 911 and started CPR, according to police.

The girl was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the cause of death as "fentanyl toxicity," according to police.

The girl's cellphone was given to the Dakota County Electronic Crimes Unit, police said. According to their investigation, on April 16, a Snapchat conversation between the girl and "Parker" — who was later identified as Benson — began with the girl asking "do you come to west st. paul."

Benson responded "yes watcha need" on April 17, police said.

On April 19, the two made arrangements for Benson to meet up and sell the girl four "perk" pills for $60, according to authorities. Just after 9 p.m., Benson messaged, "pulling up," and the girl later messaged "thanks bro next time I’ll buy more," the police said.

Less than an hour later, Benson messaged the girl to "only take like less than a quarter of it," according to authorities. Just after 2 a.m., Benson messaged her again, asking "they hitting?" police said.

There was no response from the girl, according to police.

Police said they also uncovered the girl's photographs in social media memories from the evening of April 19 between 9:12 p.m. and 9:38 p.m.

Those images showed the following, according to authorities:

• 9:12 p.m. — An image showed a hand holding blue pills contained in plastic wrap
• 9:25 p.m. — An image showed four blue pills with "M" on the pill atop what appeared to be a blanket
• 9:25 p.m. — About 20 seconds later, another image showed four blue pills lined up on a makeup case with two of the pills with the "M" side up and two with “30” side up
• 9:33 p.m. — An image showed four lines of powder on a makeup case

At 9:44 p.m., the girl sent a photo to her friend over Instagram of blue pills contained in plastic wrap, police said.