Seattle man charged with homicide in Bellingham woman’s October overdose death
A 23-year-old Seattle man is accused of providing counterfeit pills that led to the late October 2022 overdose death of a young Bellingham woman.
Jahyaire Ajahla Wilson was charged Thursday, March 9, in Whatcom County Superior Court with controlled substance homicide (domestic violence), delivery of a controlled substance (fentanyl) and delivery of a counterfeit substance (Oxycodone) for the Oct. 20, 2022, death of Sana Keller.
A warrant was issued for Wilson’s arrest Friday, March 10. He was booked into the Whatcom County Jail Wednesday afternoon, March 15, according to court and jail records.
Around 11:15 a.m. on Oct. 20, Bellingham police responded to an apartment in the 2400 block of Taylor Avenue in Bellingham for a death investigation. Shortly before 11:30 a.m., a Bellingham Fire Department captain pronounced Keller dead, court and police records state.
Five days later, on Oct. 25, Keller’s cellphone was provided to Bellingham police by Keller’s father. Keller’s mother told Bellingham police she had searched through her daughter’s phone and took notes. The mother told Bellingham police that Keller and Wilson dated roughly three years earlier, the court records show.
Keller’s mother told police that while looking through her daughter’s phone, she heard several voicemails from a cellphone number and that the voice apologized during the voicemails.
When police ran the phone number through a cellphone database, it returned to Wilson. Records show Wilson had communicated with Keller through phone calls, text messages and Facebook messenger.
On Oct. 27, the Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office advised Bellingham police that preliminary autopsy results for Keller showed a possible overdose due to fentanyl and carfentanil in her system, court records state.
During a phone call with a Bellingham police officer on Jan. 11, Wilson told police that he and Keller dated for roughly two years. Wilson told police that on Oct. 19, Keller came to his house in Lynnwood and the pair were using “blues,” according to court records. “Blues” is a common term used to describe counterfeit Oxycodone pills.
Wilson told police he bought five “blues” for roughly $20 to $25 from an unknown person at a Lynnwood gas station. He said both he and Keller then snorted two pills, the records show.
Wilson said Keller took the three remaining pills and left.
Keller then called Wilson approximately 40 times, but Wilson told police he lost his phone near the gas station.
The following day, Wilson went back to the gas station and bought more “blues.” He told police he attempted to snort three of them. Wilson also said he had never seen the person he bought the pills from before, court records state.
An autopsy report for Keller provided to police on Jan. 27 listed Keller’s cause of death as acute fentanyl intoxication, the records show.
An October 2022 GoFundMe page set up for Keller’s family had raised nearly $30,000 by March 15.
The family said Keller had nearly completed a psychology degree and was preparing for the next phase of adulthood.
The family said Keller is “always in our thoughts and hearts” and that they missed her more than words can express, the family shared in a December update to the GoFundMe page.
“We miss her caring, loving personality and unique sense of humor everyday,” the page states.
