Man Charged In Fatal Overdose Of 37-Year-Old East Norriton Woman: DA

EAST NORRITON, PA — Charges have been filed against a drug dealer who sold the fentanyl that killed a 37-year-old East Norriton woman in July, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office announced Thursday.

Christian Talman, 37, of Calumet Street in Philadelphia, faces charges of drug delivery resulting in death and related counts.

Police said their investigation uncovered a several-days-long text chain between the victim, Lisa Chekemian, also 37, of East Norriton, and Talman, as they negotiated drug prices.

On July 31, the night Chekemian was found dead in her Washington Avenue home, she arranged and paid for Talman to get an Uber to her, authorities said.

Talman put six purple-tinted bags, each containing a white wax bag stamped with the word “WHAM," inside her mailbox, according to police. They noted that he also put a syringe inside.

In text messages, the DA's office said that Talman warned Chekemian to "go slow," and use only a tenth instead of a fifth of a bag at once. Police said this indicated that Talman "knew the drugs were capable of killing her."

Chekemian was found dead on her living room couch by her husband just before 10 p.m. that Sunday.

Police said they confirmed Talman's movements implied in the texts through a search of cellphone data.

Dr. Ian Hood with the Montgomery County Coroner's said that Chekemian's cause of death was fentanyl, xylazine, and amphetamine toxicity.

Talman was unable to make the $250,000 bail set y Magisterial District Judge Deborah Lukens, and was booked at Montgomery County Correctional Facility.

A preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 19.