DRUG MIXER ACCUSED IN MAN'S DEATH BY OVERDOSE

Bloomington Man Faces Murder Charge; Police Say He Prepared Injection For
Victim.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) -- A man accused of mixing the drugs that caused
another man to die from an overdose has been charged with murder.

Authorities allege Paul A. Crider, 49, of Bloomington, caused the death of
Randy Wagner, 49, of Spencer, who died from a cocaine and heroin overdose.

A man at the house where Wagner suffered the overdose March 1 told
investigators that Wagner began having a bad reaction soon after the
substance was injected from a syringe.

"He (Crider) was seen preparing it and within moments after Wagner had
received the injection is when, from our information, he started having his
reaction to it," Monroe County sheriff's Detective Brad Swain said. "It was
fairly immediate."

Witnesses told detectives that Crider and another man tried to revive
Wagner by running water over him in a bathtub, court documents said. Crider
later drove away from the home in a pickup after Wagner was carried out and
placed in it, an affidavit said.

Crider maintains that he had nothing to do with the death, Bloomington
police Detective Rick Crussen said.

Crider, who was arrested Thursday, was being held without bond in the
Monroe County Jail on Friday.

Police officers reported finding Wagner's body on March 2 in a northern
Monroe County residence after an anonymous caller said he might have
suffered a drug overdose.

While detectives were at the scene, Crider arrived in Wagner's car and told
police he was checking on his friend, according to Swain.

Crider told officers he had dropped Wagner off there the night before after
he had been drinking and that it was possible Wagner might have taken some
Valium, the affidavit said.