4 charged in concealing drug overdose death

Shawano woman among those suspected of covering up reservation woman’s death
By: 
Kevin Murphy
Correspondent

Four people were charged last week in federal court in connection with a burned-out vehicle found on the Menominee Reservation that is suspected of concealing the drug overdose death of a woman.

Timothy M. Snider Jr., of Green Bay, was charged with distribution of a controlled substance, use of a communication facility in the furtherance of a narcotics offense and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Emerson K. Reed, and Keith D. Wilber Jr. were both charged with misprision of a felony and arson, while Kayla M. Childs, of Shawano, was charged with misprision of a felony.

Misprision of a felony is charged when an individual knows about a felony, aided in concealing it and failed to notify authorities. Conviction carries a maximum punishment of three years in prison.

An affidavit filed in federal court in support of a criminal complaint alleged that Snider gave heroin to Stephanie Greenspon, who fatally overdosed on Aug. 3. Messages on Greenspon’s Facebook account indicated she had contacted Snider about obtaining a 0.1 of gram of “down” or heroin. Snider indicated he had some and it was good.

At the time, Snider was wearing a GPS bracelet as a condition of his release on pending drug and bail jumping charges in Brown County. GPS and cell tower data put Greenspon at Snider’s residence on the afternoon of Aug. 2.

Witnesses later said that Snider had told them that he had given Greenspon heroin and she had died on the evening of Aug. 2.

Reed said Snider asked him to help dispose of Greenspon’s body, according to the criminal complaint, and Reed called in a favor Wilber owed him by also asking to help with Greenspon’s remains.

On Aug. 19, a logger checking on a tract of land on S.E. Bass Lake Road, in Keshena, found a burned-out vehicle. Tribal police responded, and human bone fragments, two shell casings and a license plate were recovered.

The vehicle’s owner was Greenspon’s boyfriend, according to the complaint, and the man said that Greenspon had been driving his Hyundai Tiburon in early August while he was in jail.

The former boyfriend gave authorities a name of an individual he believed Greenspon had visited on Aug. 3. That person implicated Snider, who told authorities someone else must have given Greenspon heroin because he saw her in the Tiburon outside his residence on Aug. 3 acting “out of it.”

Snider’s GPS data revealed that he traveled from Brown County to the reservation on Aug. 4, according to the complaint. Times recorded on camera footage along the same route showed the Tiburon and a Jeep Cherokee and matched the time from Snider’s GPS data.

Cellphone data showed that Reed and Wilber had spoken to each other during the trip to the reservation, and Wilber, according to the complaint, later told investigators that Reed had asked him for help with a “cold one,” presumably an overdose victim, Greenspon.

Wilber told authorities that he told Reed and Snider to take Greenspon’s remains to a remote area on the reservation. Greenspon’s body was transported in the front seat of the Tiburon, according to Reed.

Wilber and Childs met Reed at the location where the vehicle was discovered, according to the complaint. Reed allegedly said that Snider wanted Greenspon’s body cut up and buried so it wouldn’t be found.

Wilber told authorities that the purpose of transporting the car and Greenspon to the reservation was to conceal the death that resulted from the heroin sale.

Reed knew that Snider was on GPS monitoring so he took him from the reservation to a restaurant in Shawano, where Snider’s girlfriend picked him up and returned to the Green Bay area. Snider’s GPS data corroborate these movements.

After Snider returned to Green Bay, Reed, Wilber and Childs returned to the Tiburon where Greenspon’s body remained inside. They moved the vehicle to another location on the reservation, where Wilber and Reed doused it with a fluid and set it on fire.

Childs and Wilber left in Wilber’s truck, according to the complaint. Reed allegedly said he later obtained cash and heroin from Snider.

The four defendants are in custody and made their initial court appearance last week. Preliminary examinations are set for June 15-16.

The defendants, except for Childs, are in custody.