“The allegation is that Farmer either gave or sold heroin to the victim and then actually injected the heroin into the victim at the victim’s request,” Greene County Prosecutor Stephen K. Haller said. Haller added that toxicology reports show that heroin and alcohol were in Howard’s system. The Greene County Coroner would not release Howard’s autopsy report. Howard was 36.
Fairborn police reports state a witness saw Farmer injecting “five caps” of heroin into Howard’s arm and that while doing it Farmer said he couldn’t believe Howard couldn’t feel the heroin in his system.
Reports indicate Howard was extremely intoxicated when he arrived at Farmer’s residence at 3:45 a.m. after drinking at Geno’s Time Out Tavern. According to the report, Farmer said Howard was alive and snoring at 11:30 a.m. but was not breathing at about 12:20 p.m., so he slapped Howard and splashed water in his face. A call to 911 came in at 12:35 p.m.
Haller said the tampering with evidence count was because “the scene was cleaned up before the cops got there.” Howard was found dead at 1923 Zimmerman, Lot 32, in May. Fairborn police have said they’ve responded to that address before because of drug complaints.
“There was a lot of traffic in and out of there,” Cheryl Yost, who lives nearby, told NewsCenter 7. “We kind of suspected, but nobody knew for sure.”
During the 911 call, a female voice told a dispatcher, “There’s a person that’s not responding laying in the kitchen floor,” adding that her son lived there and was trying to do CPR on Howard. “I swear, I believe he’s dead.”
Paramedics arrived at the scene at 12:37 a.m., a couple minutes after they received the call. Fire and police department documents show six firefighters/EMS personnel responded, that Howard was declared dead at 1 p.m. after 20 minutes of CPR, and that officials were on scene until 2:13 p.m.
Farmer was arrested a few weeks ago by Kentucky State Police after they became aware that he was living in the Lexington, Ky. area and had a warrant out of Ohio.
Farmer’s initial bond was set at $50,000, but he’s currently in the Greene County jail on a probation violation, officials said. Farmer’s pre-trial hearings are scheduled for Dec. 6 and Jan. 3 with a trial date tentatively set for Jan. 14.
Farmer’s attorney, Jay Adams, said Wednesday, “The charges paint Jamie out to be somebody who intended to cause this death. The reality is nothing could be further from the truth.”
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