MONTEREY TEEN CHARGED WITH MURDER IN DRUG OVERDOSE DEATH

A 15-year-old Monterey High student was arrested yesterday on a murder
charge. He allegedly sold drugs to a younger relative who died of an
overdose in October. Putnam Sheriff's Deputy and Monterey High School
Resource Officer Tracey Langford made the arrest at Monterey High yesterday.

The boy, whose name was not disclosed due to his young age, was taken to
the Putnam Juvenile Detention Center in Cookeville.

He is charged with second degree murder and with sale and delivery of a
controlled substance in the death of Jonathan Shannon Phillips, 14, who was
found dead in his home on the morning of October 2.

The Phillips boy died of a drug overdose, according to an autopsy which was
done in Nashville, Putnam Sheriff Jerry Abston said.

He died of methadone, which is a drug that is prescribed and used to help
those trying to break severe drug addictions, but he himself had not had a
drug problem, officials said.

"The Monterey Police Dept. and SRO Tracey Langford investigated this case,
and it was determined that this boy, a relative of the Phillips boy, sold
methadone to him," Sheriff Abston said.

Asked where the boy now under arrest got that methadone, the sheriff said,
"We think we know the answer to that, but the investigation is
substantially complete with this arrest."

Sheriff Abston said the officers who investigated the case conferred with
District Attorney Bill Gibson, who advised that they take a juvenile
petition charging the 15-year-old with second degree murder.

The murder charge comes from a state law providing for such a criminal
charge against someone who "distributes a schedule drug which then causes
someone's death," according to Assistant District Attorney David Patterson,
who was on his way to Putnam Juvenile Court this morning to represent the
state in the case.

Some sources familiar with the case said methadone pills were found in the
Phillips boy's pockets after his death.

A student at Burks Middle School in Monterey, the Phillips boy lived with
his grandparents on Walnut St. in Monterey.

On the morning of Oct. 2, his grandmother found him dead in his bed. The
boy had been sick with a virus and had not felt well for a couple of days,
Monterey Police Chief Bruce Breedlove said at that time.

Investigators believed at that time that the boy had been dead two or three
hours when his grandmother found him.

The 15-year-old who was arrested yesterday was to be brought to Juvenile
Court today, according to Juvenile Court Youth Services Officer Terry Cox.