Woman Pleads Guilty to Murder for St. Cloud Fatal Drug Overdose

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- A woman who was wanted on a murder charge for a fatal drug overdose more than three years ago has pleaded guilty.

Twenty-eight-year-old Ashley Kapol has pleaded guilty to one count of 3rd-degree murder.

Kapol was wanted on a number of warrants, including the 3rd-degree murder charge in the fatal overdose of a St. Cloud woman in June 2020.

Stearns County authorities found and arrested Kapol on December 28th.

According to the charge, St. Cloud Police were called to investigate a death in the 3300 block of 14th Street North just before midnight on June 20, 2020. The officer found a woman dead on the bedroom floor. The caller said he went to check on the woman after he became concerned that she was not responding to his calls and text messages.

Court records show the victim was not breathing when he found her. An autopsy determined she died of accidental fentanyl overdose.

Police ultimately found the woman's purse and cell phone in her car, but were unable to unlock the phone. In February 2023, authorities used new technology to unlock the victim's phone and find a text thread between the victim and Kapol.

According to the criminal complaint, Kapol agreed to sell the woman a Perc 30 pill on the date she died. Perc 30 pills often contain fentanyl.

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According to authorities, Kapol was interviewed while being held in the Benton County Jail last April and admitted to selling Perc 30 pills but denied selling the victim any pills. Records show she also didn't understand why it was her fault that the woman died because she decided to take a pill.

In a jail phone call about a week later, Kapol admitted she sold the pill and that the other person died.

She'll be sentenced on May 24th.