One convicted of aiding murder in Morton, Minnesota, woman's overdose death

OLIVIA

— One of the three men criminally charged in connection to the overdose death of a

Morton,

Minnesota, woman last fall has pleaded guilty and will serve prison time.

Daniel Ortiz, 31, of

St. Paul,

pleaded guilty in June to aiding and abetting murder in the third degree. According to the plea petition filed in Renville County District Court, Ortiz agreed to provide truthful testimony in the trials of co-defendants Joshua Lee Hill, of Shakopee, and Eugene Damario Tate, of Minneapolis.

In exchange for his plea, attorneys agreed Ortiz would be sentenced to a downward durational departure of 36 months in prison. According to the departure report filed by the judge, the crime was less onerous than usual — Ortiz did not actually sell the drugs to the woman — and the prosecutor and family of the woman were in agreement with the lesser sentence.

Lead prosecutor Kelsie Kingstrom noted for the record that the Renville County Attorney’s Office had numerous conversations with the woman’s family and that they had no objection to the recommendation, according to a court transcript.

Judge Thomas Van Hon sentenced Ortiz on Sept. 11 to 36 months of prison with credit for 133 days served. Ortiz is currently incarcerated at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in St. Cloud. According to the Minnesota Department of Corrections, he is expected to be released on May 4, 2026.

According to the criminal complaint, law enforcement responded Oct. 25, 2023, to a residence in Morton on the report of an unresponsive female. A sheriff’s deputy arrived but determined the female to be deceased. A piece of tinfoil with black residue, a metal pipe and lighter were also located nearby.

A family member of the woman spoke with law enforcement later the same day. According to the complaint, the family member reported they had found additional drug paraphernalia, including a folded piece of paper that contained a white substance, which later field tested presumptive positive for fentanyl.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid drug approved for prescription use as a pain reliever and anesthetic. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, it is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin as a pain relieve.

According to the criminal complaint, the woman had a history of drug use and had recently relapsed. Another witness told police that she and a second witness had recently driven the woman to the Minneapolis area to pick up drugs days before she was found unresponsive.

At the plea hearing on June 24, 2024, Ortiz admitted to helping facilitate a drug sale between the woman and Tate, who allegedly sold the fentanyl found in the woman’s residence.

According to the court transcript, the woman had contacted Ortiz stating she wanted to buy fentanyl. Ortiz then contacted Tate, whom he knew by another name, and acted as the main line of communication between the woman and Tate to arrange a drug purchase.

The complaint states that the woman had initially reached out to Hill to arrange a drug purchase. Hill then contacted Ortiz once she said she was seeking to purchase two grams of fentanyl.

Ortiz also stated that he was present when the drug purchase in Minneapolis occurred. Ortiz said he was going to be the person to give the fentanyl to the woman, but Tate had changed his mind. Ortiz said Tate decided to do the sale himself after the woman had texted Ortiz that she had arrived at the agreed upon location.

An autopsy report from the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office determined the woman’s death was caused by toxic effects of fentanyl. Drug toxicology results from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension found the substance located in the woman’s room was confirmed to be fentanyl, weighing about 1.24 grams.

Criminal proceedings are continuing against the other two suspects.

Hill is also charged with aiding and abetting third-degree murder. He was booked into the Renville County Jail on March 17, 2024, and has remained in custody since his arrest. Bail was set at $500,000 without conditions or $250,000 with conditions that include GPS monitoring.

Court records show his next pretrial date has been set for April 10, 2025.

Tate is charged with third-degree murder via selling/distributing controlled substances. He posted a $100,000 bond in March and was released with conditions, including that he participate in a pretrial supervision program.

Through his attorney, Tate filed a motion Sept. 30 to suppress evidence. He argues that warrants used to obtain his Facebook/Meta data did not meet the standard to sufficiently link him as the owner of the accounts or that he was the one using the accounts during referenced time frames in the criminal complaints.

The court took the matter under advisement, and no additional hearings in the case have yet been scheduled, according to online court records.