Montco Woman Sentenced In Friend's Overdose Death In KFC

COLLEGEVILLE, PA — A 23-year-old Collegeville woman will spend the next 21 years behind bars after leaving her friend to die in a KFC bathroom, officials said.

Emma Semler, 23, was convicted by a jury back in Dec. 2018 after selling a fatal heroin dose to a friend who she met in rehab, later leaving her to die in what prosecutors described as an "unconscionable" crime.

Semler became friends with the victim back in Nov. 2013 when they were both in a drug rehabilitation facility, according to the office of First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams.

In May 2014, the victim sent Semler a message on Facebook Messenger asking for heroin, authorities said. Semler told her that she knew where they could get heroin, and agreed to give the victim a syringe to use to inject with.

Semler brought the victim and her younger sister with her to the Overbrook section of Philadelphia, where they met a dealer at the KFC restaurant on 61st Street and Lancaster Avenue. After buying the heroin, the three women went into the KFC bathroom and they each injected, according to Williams' office.

The victim then apparently asked for a second dose, "because it was her birthday," officials said. Semler gave her the second dose, and she immediately began to show signs of overdosing.

Instead of helping her, however, Semler and her sister cleaned up the bathroom and fled the scene, telling no one about what was happening to the victim. Williams said it was "appalling" and "unconscionable" that Semler ran while "her friend lay dying on the floor."

A KFC employee found the victim later on and called 911. First responders tried to revive her, and she was rushed to a hospital but she was soon pronounced dead.

“The fact that Semler left the victim alone as she was overdosing is particularly disturbing, as she most likely could have been aided by first responders," Jonathan A. Wilson, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Philadelphia Field Division, said in a statement.

Additional charges were filed against Semler because the KFC was located within 1,000 feet of a playground.

Semler must also serve six years of probation upon release, and has been fined $2,500.