New Hampshire

2 indicted in NH after body of woman who overdosed was dumped in Mass.

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Two people arrested after the body of a New Hampshire woman who overdosed was dumped in Massachusetts have been indicted, authorities said Wednesday.

Justina Steffy, 31, was reported missing by police in Keene, New Hampshire, in October. Later that month, investigators confirmed that human remains discovered in Warwick, Massachusetts, were identified as Steffy.

The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office said investigators had learned Steffy died inside a Keene home on Oct. 13 after a fatal drug overdose. After her body was found Oct. 23 in Warwick, an autopsy was conducted and her death was ruled a homicide caused by the combined toxic effects of fentanyl, 4-ANPP and xylazine.

In February, authorities announced 42-year-old Andrea Martin and 32-year-old Christian Torruellas had been arrested.

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Martin was charged with dispensing a controlled drug with death resulting after prosecutors alleged that she and another person provided Steffy with a controlled drug containing fentanyl, and she died as a result of the injection or ingestion of that drug. She is also charged with a count of falsifying physical evidence for removing Steffy’s body from Keene and disposing of it in Warwick.

Martin and Torruellas are also charged with kidnapping, with prosecutors alleging they confined a woman under their control from about Oct. 1-17 “with a purpose to terrorize that person and/or others.” Martin is also charged with another kidnapping count, alleging that from Oct. 10-13 she acted in concert with another person to confine Steffy under her control.

Martin and Torruellas were each also charged with a count of “trafficking in persons” for allegedly knowingly compelling an adult victim other than Steffy, to perform a service or labor against their will “by causing or threatening to cause serious harm to that person, confining them unlawfully by means of actual and threatened use of force, threatening to commit crimes against that person, facilitating or controlling their access to an addictive controlled substance, and/or engaging in a scheme, plan, or pattern (overt or subtle) intended to cause the person to believe that if such labor or services were not performed they would suffer serious physical harm or physical restraint.”

A Cheshire County grand jury returned indictments for the charges against Martin and Torruellas, the office of Attorney General John Formella said.

Both suspects are due to be arraigned at Cheshire County Superior Court on June 12. It was not immediately clear if they had attorneys.

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