TRIO ACCUSED IN HEROIN DEATH

ELKHORN -- A brother, sister and the man suspected of dealing them
heroin are in the Walworth County Jail facing charges of first-degree
reckless homicide.

Rebecca H. Monroe, a 37-year-old Elkhorn woman, died in her home
April 3 from a drug overdose, said Dr. Lynda Biedrzyski, a Waukesha
County medical examiner, according to a criminal complaint.

Devis K. Osinski, Ladine L. Osinski and Jermal A. Johnson are accused
of being the terminal end of a supply chain that delivered heroin to Monroe.

They each face up to 40 years in prison and fines totaling $100,000
if convicted.

According to the complaint:

Devis and Ladine drove to Illinois and purchased a gram of heroin
from Johnson, 36, of Zion, Ill.

Johnson handed the heroin to Ladine, 37, of W1106 Celadine Road, Pell Lake.

She handed it to her brother, 42, also of W1106 Celadine Road.

Devis took the heroin to Monroe's apartment April 3. He told police
he had injected her with heroin before, but didn't inject her with
the drug that night, according to the complaint.

Elkhorn police found Monroe dead in her bathroom about 2 a.m. April 4
after Devis called 911.

District Attorney Phil Koss said supplying heroin is enough to
warrant the reckless homicide charges against the three, even if none
of them injected her with the drug.

An autopsy revealed morphine in Monroe's blood and five needle
punctures within bruising on her left breast.

Morphine is a byproduct of heroin after it breaks down in the
bloodstream, Coroner John Griebel said.

Devis told police that he has previously performed CPR on Monroe when
she used heroin because she would sometimes quit breathing, according
to the complaint.

Koss said the case is the first use of Wisconsin's Len Bias law in
Walworth County. Bias was a former University of Maryland basketball
player who died of a cocaine overdose in 1986.

The Len Bias law allows prosecutors to charge homicide against people
who provide drugs that cause overdose deaths.

All three suspects remain in custody on $200,000 bonds issued Thursday.

Devis Osinski was in custody since April 5 on a probation hold.
Ladine Osinski was brought in June 9 for bail jumping. Johnson was in
the Kenosha County Jail since April 21 on three heroin delivery charges.

Koss said the reckless homicide charges had to wait for autopsy and
toxicology reports.