By Guy Page
The Vermont State Police is investigating a suspicious death at a St. Johnsbury apartment associated with a Springfield, Massachusetts fentanyl dealer.
Police suspect the event is a targeted homicide, the Caledonian-Record of St. Johnsbury reported this morning.
The investigation began after the St. Johnsbury Police Department received a call at about 9:45 a.m. Wednesday requesting a welfare check at 78 Hastings St. for a report that an individual may have been shot, state police say. Responding officers confirmed that an individual was dead inside the residence. St. Johnsbury police asked the Vermont State Police lead the investigation.
The homicide occurred in Apartment #4 of 78 Hastings Street, where in September St. J police arrested Israel Jiminez-Lugo, 49, of Springfield, Mass., for possession of cocaine and fentanyl trafficking. He pleaded innocent, the Caledonian-Record reports.
This investigation is in its earliest stages and involves members of the Vermont State Police Major Crime Unit, Bureau of Criminal Investigations, Crime Scene Search Team and Victim Services Unit. The St. Johnsbury Police Department is providing assistance.
Following processing of the crime scene by investigators, the body of the victim will be brought to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington for an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death. The victim’s identity is being withheld pending further investigation notification of next of kin.