Following an investigation into a fatal fentanyl overdose, the Denton Police Department and Denton County Sheriff’s Office have arrested two people on felony charges, including murder, Denton PD announced Thursday.
At 7:23 a.m. on Oct. 18, Denton Police and Fire personnel responded to an unconscious person call at a hotel in the 3700 block of South I-35E. Upon arrival, the male victim, identified as 29-year-old Corey Alan Culver of St. Pauls, North Carolina, was pronounced deceased, according to a Denton PD news release. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office later ruled Culver’s cause of death as combined cocaine and fentanyl toxicity.
Officers spoke with the female 911 caller, 38-year-old Tabitha Balent of Denton, who reported that she found the victim dead in the hotel room bed when she woke up. Denton PD detectives executed a search warrant on the hotel room and located drug paraphernalia and two circular blue pills, which were believed to be counterfeit oxycodone M30 tablets containing fentanyl. Detectives obtained a search warrant for Balent’s phone, and they located multiple text messages between Balent and Culver about Balent acquiring “percs” and delivering those pills to Culver on Oct. 17.
Detectives additionally located Balent’s text messages with 37-year-old Raymond Hernandez of Denton about purchasing suspected narcotics from him. The Denton County Sheriff’s Office was simultaneously investigating Hernandez on a separate narcotics case and obtained three felony arrest warrants for Manufacture or Delivery of a Controlled Substance in Penalty Group 1 >4G <200G, Manufacture or Delivery of a Controlled Substance in Penalty Group 1 >4G <200G, and Manufacture or Delivery of a Controlled Substance in Penalty Group 1 >1G <4G. Denton PD detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Murder for Balent, according to the news release.
On Wednesday, Denton PD, DCSO, and the U.S. Marshals Joint East Texas Fugitive Task Force conducted a joint operation and arrested Balent and Hernandez without incident at their shared residence in the 3400 block of Ganzer Road West, north of Denton. Both suspects separately agreed to speak with detectives. Balent admitted to acquiring pills from Hernandez that were then distributed to Culver, according to Denton PD. After Hernandez admitted to supplying Balent with the pills given to the victim, Denton PD obtained a murder warrant for Hernandez.
“Fentanyl is a scourge in our community,” said Denton County Sheriff Tracy Murphree. “We must hold those accountable who are killing our citizens. We are proud of our cooperative relationship with the Denton Police Department, and we will continue to work together to rid our community of this deadly drug.”
Balent was booked in the Denton County Jail on a $100,000 bond. Hernandez was booked in the City of Denton Jail with bond set at $150,000 for the murder charge.
“The continued threat of fentanyl in our community is very real, and collectively, we must all come together to address the dangers that come with it,” said Denton Police Chief Doug Shoemaker. “We must all remain vigilant in rooting out the sources of this drug before even more lives are taken from us.”
