A suspected drug dealer who used a Minneapolis restaurant as a meetup spot now stands charged with murder for three overdose deaths in less than seven months in the west metro.
Beverly N. Burrell, 30, of Maplewood, was charged Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court with third-degree murder in connection with the Sept. 25 overdose of Maxwell Tillitt, 21, in an Eden Prairie hotel. He died the next day.
On May 20, Burrell was charged with selling heroin to a New Prague man, Nicholas Petrick, 29, who overdosed and died in a Costco parking lot in Eden Prairie in April.
She's also charged in the death of Luke Ronnei, a 20-year-old Chanhassen man, under similar circumstances in Carver County.
Burrell remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail ahead of a court appearance Thursday.
According to the latest charges:
Tillitt and a woman he was "romantic with" went to a Minneapolis restaurant on Sept. 25, met Burrell outside in a car and paid $180 for heroin. Tillitt and the woman went to a hotel, where he shot up some of the drug. Tillitt collapsed and vomited.
The medical examiner's office attributed his death to a mixture of methamphetamine and heroin.
A search of phone records turned 63 contacts between Tillitt and Burrell from Sept. 6 until the day the drug deal went down.
Investigators also used cellphone tracking data to pinpoint where the drug deal occurred — outside a Perkins restaurant just off of Riverside Avenue in south Minneapolis.
Authorities say Burrell was known as "Ice" on the street, and "this location was regularly used by [her] to sell heroin."
Investigators used a confidential informant to conduct a controlled buy from Burrell while under surveillance by law enforcement. Officers then conducted a second controlled buy and arrested Burrell in her vehicle. Police found 27.7 grams of packaged heroin and about $120,000 in cash in her home.
Tillitt was engaged to be married at the time of his death and left behind a baby boy.
A GoFundMe page started to assist with his son's upbringing said that "when Landon was born, Max would love staying up in the middle of the night reading his favorite book, 'Love You Forever,' to Landon. ... Landon may not have the chance to know the love and kindness we all felt from his dad, but we'll find Max's contagious smile and laugh in the memories we share."
