White Bear Lake Township man charged in woman's overdose death

A White Bear Lake Township man was charged with murder Monday for allegedly supplying drugs that led to a woman's overdose death.

Jesse R. Lietzau, 24, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with one count of third-degree murder in the death of a woman who was only identified in court documents by her initials, K.N.C.

According to the criminal complaint: Police were called to a hotel in the 350 block of W. 77th Street in Richfield on May 16, 2021, on reports of an unconscious woman who wasn't breathing. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

A male witness told police the woman was his fiancee, and that the previous night they had purchased "perc 30s" pills from a man at a St. Paul hotel. The man was later identified as Lietzau, who worked as a security guard at the hotel, charges said.

The witness said his fiancee consumed at least one of the pills that evening, and that she had purchased pills from Lietzau in the past.

Police found messages in the woman's phone between her and Lietzau about the purchase of the pills, the charges said. Lietzau allegedly told the woman to break the pills into quarters or halves due to their strength.

The charges said "Perc 30s" are "fake pills often made to resemble Oxycodone Hydrocodone" pills, and that they often contain fentanyl. Autopsy results showed the woman died of fentanyl toxicity.

Lietzau was charged via arrest warrant and was not in custody as of late Monday afternoon.