Overdose leads to murder arrests

LUFKIN – The Angelina County Sheriff’s Office has arrested three men for murder after a Lufkin 18-year-old overdosed on fentanyl on Friday. According to the sheriff’s office and our news partner KETK, deputies responded to a reported seizure or overdose at a home on Benton Drive outside of Lufkin. The deputies arrived at the scene and found Sierra Grace Duckworth, 18, of Lufkin, unconscious inside the home.

Duckworth was taken to a local hospital for treatment but was later pronounced dead. The sheriff’s office said Duckworth’s boyfriend, Coy Allen Cook, 21 of Lufkin, told officers that they had taken some blue fentanyl pills around two hours before the deputies arrived.

Cook and Logan Wayne Ferguson, 19 of Lufkin, reportedly went to the Hudson home of Roderick “Squirrel” Johnson, 25, to buy the fentanyl. According to the sheriff’s office, a purchase of fentanyl pills was set up via text messages that were later found on Duckworth’s phone.

“Ferguson told investigators he and Cook went to Johnson’s residence and bought the pills,” A press release from the sheriff’s office said. “Upon return, Cook and Duckworth later took a portion of the pills they had purchased with Duckworth becoming unconscious thereafter. Ferguson stated he was present when Duckworth overdosed but left the house before law enforcement arrived.”

Deputies investigating Duckworth’s death then notified Angelina County District Attorney Amy Wren, and her office helped secure arrest warrants for Cook, Ferguson, and Johnson, and a search warrant for Johnson’s home.

Johnson’s Hudson home was searched by the Lufkin Police Department and deputies from the sheriff’s office. Suspected fentanyl, marijuana and a large amount of cash were found during the search, according to a press release.

Cook, Ferguson and Johnson have each been arrested and charged with murder in this case. Officials suspect that more charges could be filed against the three men.

“Texas law provides for a charge of murder when a person dies as a result of the delivery of any controlled substance that is injected, ingested, inhaled or otherwise introduced into a victim’s body. Area law enforcement officers are seeing an uptick in Fentanyl related arrests and this drug is one of the more dangerous ones that officers are currently dealing with. We urge caution to the public, and to drug users as well, that Fentanyl can be lethal in even small doses.”
Angelina County Sheriff Tom Selman