A Gamerco woman is facing charges after a man under her care died.
On April 25 around 1:30 pm, McKinley County Sheriff’s Deputy Jarad Albert responded to a call at 207 Ray Ave. in Gamerco after a man reportedly died. When he arrived at the scene, he met with the man’s father and a woman named Dianna Franco, who said she was a friend of the man.
Albert entered the bedroom in which the man’s body was located and found him lying on the floor near the bed in an upright position, his head rested on a pillow. He was unresponsive.
According to Albert’s report, he witnessed Franco, 55, try to give the man CPR. He took over from Franco, and asked her and the deceased’s father to wait outside the room while medical personnel were en route.
Albert reportedly did five chest compressions on the man before medical personnel arrived. In his report he notes that the man’s extremities were already cold to the touch. There was also what appeared to be a dark liquid on the pillow the man was lying on, as well as spots of it on the carpet.
When Albert spoke to Franco she said she was with the man on a daily basis as his official caregiver. She said she’d spent the night prior with him, and that he seemed more agitated and short-tempered than usual.
She explained that the man had spinal surgery in 2021, and it caused him a lot of back pain. Franco initially denied that she and the man took any sort of narcotic, although she did admit he’d had some Ten High whisky the night before.
The man also allegedly had his usual medications, which included lactose solution, oxycodone, gabapentin, and baclofen. Franco said he took his prescribed amount the day before.
The morning of the incident, Franco said she was making the man his breakfast around 12:30 pm. She allegedly called for him to come eat around 1:15 pm, but when she went to check on him he was lying on the floor. She said that wasn’t unusual, due to his sciatic pain. But soon she realized he was unresponsive.
Franco reportedly began CPR. She said the man did not respond, but he did spit up some dark fluid. She said the fluid was probably Dr. Pepper, as the man reportedly drank the soda daily. In his report Albert noted that there was a Dr. Pepper can on the night stand next to the bed.
Franco allegedly performed CPR for about 15 minutes before she called Metro Dispatch. She later said she even gave the man Narcan.
Medical personnel moved the man to the living room and continued to try and save his life. However, they pronounced him dead around 2 pm.
DETAILS OF THE SCENE
According to the Office of Medical Investigator, no signs of foul play were found.
When Albert looked around the bedroom, he found signs of narcotic use, including burnt foils and lighters. Since this was a possible drug-related death, deputies secured the room and asked Franco and the deceased’s father to exit the house.
Deputies told Franco that they were going to type up a search warrant for the room, and she responded by asking if she could grab her purse, which was on the bed. Albert and the other deputies explained that anything in the room would become part of the search warrant for the possible drug overdose death. They asked Franco for consent to search her purse to clear it as an evidence item. They said they would then be able to give it back to her.
Initially, Franco refused, saying she didn’t want the deputies to look through her purse. Deputies then explained that it would have to stay in the bedroom until they could look through it.
A few minutes later Franco approached Albert and said she wanted to give a voluntary statement.
She admitted that she’d initially lied about drug usage. She said that the man often smoked fentanyl and meth when he was out of his prescribed pain killers.
In Albert’s report Franco said she just wanted to be honest about what happened.
Albert spoke to Franco again after the initial investigation was completed. She said she’d picked up about seven fentanyl pills from the floor and placed them in a pill bottle before deputies arrived.
She also said she put a baggie that had meth in it inside her purse. At this point she finally agreed to let deputies search through her purse.
Upon searching Franco’s purse, Albert and Sgt. Timo Molina found drug paraphernalia, including two lighters, two glass pipes, one metal pipe, a metal spoon, foil, and wire. They also found a baggie with three small yellow pills inside it and 13 small blue pills, all believed to be fentanyl.
An envelope containing a clear crystal-like substance inside of it was also found, along with clear baggies that had a white powdery substance inside them.
Deputies did not find the pill bottle Franco had spoken about.
In total, Franco had 1.1 grams of amphetamines in her purse. The white powdery substance was tested, but it did not test positive for any sort of narcotic.
Franco was charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. A preliminary hearing was held in magistrate court on May 15 before the case was transferred to district court. No district court dates had been scheduled by press time.
Staff Reports
