Hibbing man faces murder charge in Itasca County woman's overdose death
May 13—A Hibbing man is facing a homicide charge in the 2019 drug overdose death of a woman in the Grand Rapids area.
David Lloyd Strey, who has an extensive criminal history and is currently imprisoned for other offenses, was charged by warrant April 29 with third-degree murder and three other felony drug-distribution counts.
Strey, 49, is described in a criminal complaint as having been a major supplier of drugs, including heroin, fentanyl and methamphetamine. Local and state investigators said they tied his sales to at least three other non-fatal overdoses in late 2018 and early 2019.
According to the complaint:
The woman, identified only by initials S.R.J., was found dead in the bathroom of a rural Grand Rapids residence around 5 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2019. The victim had recently been released from prison and was temporarily staying with the father of her two children.
A syringe found on the scene field-tested positive for opiates, and an autopsy later concluded that the woman died from the toxic effects of multiple drugs in her system, including fentanyl, acetyl fentanyl and meth.
The father of S.R.J.'s children told police that she had asked him to bring her friend, David James Damyanovich, to the house the night before. Damyanovich confirmed that he was there for several hours, leaving around 11:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve and that S.R.J. texted him "Happy New Year" around 1 a.m.
He told police that the victim would get heroin from "a guy who lives in Kelly Lake," a neighborhood in Hibbing, but did not know where she got meth. Damyanovich, who described S.R.J. as "like a mom," said he had brought her to the residence a few times and identified the location to investigators, who determined the home belonged to Strey.
Investigators worked with a confidential, reliable informant to carry out several purchases of opioids and meth from Strey at his home in the following weeks. In one meeting, he allegedly told the informant to be "very careful" with some heroin, as it was the same product he had given to S.R.J.
On Jan. 17, 2019, investigators confronted Strey at a Hibbing gas station, where was to meet with the informant for another sale. In a statement, he said S.R.J. was a friend and admitted that they traded drugs back and forth, but claimed he was not home from Dec. 30 to Jan. 2 and denied providing her with heroin, saying police should speak with Damyanovich.
In the course of the investigation, police discovered that Damyanovich's ex-girlfriend had suffered a non-fatal overdose at the Grand Rapids Burger King on Nov. 30, 2018. In a January interview, she told officers that she had accompanied Damyanovich to Strey's residence to get the heroin, which she believed to be from the same batch that killed S.R.J.
Police also spoke with a man in LaPrairie who reported that his girlfriend suffered a non-fatal overdose on Jan. 16 after apparently visiting Strey.
Damyanovich, in a February 2019 interview, also acknowledged that he overdosed on the same product as his girlfriend and had to be revived by Narcan. He provided additional details about Strey's drug operation and acknowledged that S.R.J. went with him to the house about five times between Thanksgiving and her death; phone and Facebook records reportedly verified they had gone to Strey's home on the night of Dec. 30.
Investigators again met with Strey on March 27. He continued to deny any involvement in S.R.J.'s death, claiming she was last at his residence on Dec. 26 and that he did not provide her any drugs.
Strey is currently serving prison time for drug sales and felony DWI convictions, with an anticipated release date of September 2024. His criminal record dates back to 1990, with numerous drug and alcohol offenses, along with burglary, theft, harassment and other convictions.
An inmate in the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Moose Lake, Strey is scheduled to be arraigned by video in State District Court in Grand Rapids on May 20.
He faces a maximum of 25 years for third-degree murder and 10 years for each of three counts of causing great bodily harm through the distribution of drugs.
Damyanovich, 26, also was charged with causing bodily harm to his girlfriend by providing her with the drugs obtained from Strey. He's currently in the St. Louis County Jail facing other first-degree controlled substance charges.
