CURWENSVILLE – A Curwensville woman has been charged in connection with the overdose death of her father in January 2023.
Sami Jo McGarry, 29, has been charged by Clearfield state police with first-degree felony drug delivery resulting in death and first-degree misdemeanor involuntary manslaughter.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, state police were called to a Curwensville residence on Jan. 17, 2023 for a deceased male who was believed to have died from a drug overdose.
When multiple troopers arrived, they spoke with the victim’s father. He said his son had spent the night somewhere else, was brought home around 10 a.m. and went directly to his room.
He could hear the victim moving around later on that day but began to feel concern as he hadn’t come out and didn’t respond when he tried to check on him around 10:15 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.
This led him to force entry, resulting in the discovery of his son deceased.
He believed the victim had spent the previous night with his daughter, McGarry, and her boyfriend, and that they had brought him back home earlier.
The victim was found seated in a folding lawn-style chair. He was leaning forward with a used hypodermic needle laying on the floor near his feet.
In an interview with state police, the victim’s estranged wife refused to name a possible supplier.
Instead, she claimed that he always assumed his drug addiction would one day kill him. She insisted he never wanted anyone to be held responsible.
However, another witness felt the woman was trying to protect “Sami”, as she had overheard her advising someone by phone how to access the victim’s Google account to “wipe” his phone.
In her interview with troopers, McGarry said she’d been hanging out with her father Jan. 16, 2023, and took him back to his residence around 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. the following morning.
Allegedly, she also admitted to having provided him a little bit of heroin as he was “dope sick.” When pressed about her supplier, she said her father wouldn’t want anyone in trouble over his addiction.
McGarry refused to “reveal” any supplier information, and would only indicate that she provided the victim with half a bundle of heroin, state police said.
She said she was not aware of anyone else helping her father out with drugs, adding that he normally used fentanyl for which she was his only source.
In a follow-up interview with state police, McGarry indicated that she wasn’t sure if she had provided her father with heroin or fentanyl.
She said she provided him with whatever she had and that xylazine was often mixed with the drugs she purchased.
An autopsy determined that the victim died from a multi-drug overdose but primarily of fentanyl.
McGarry is currently incarcerated in county jail in lieu of $150,000 bail, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Jan. 8.
