Sterling woman charged with murder involving drugs in April Soldotna death

Soldotna police have arrested a 39-year-old Sterling woman on a second-degree murder charge in a death officers responded to in April, the department said in a press release Wednesday.

The court filing describes the charge as second-degree murder involving a controlled substance. Under state law, that charge can apply when someone knowingly makes or delivers a drug and another person dies as a direct result of taking it. The law doesn't require proof that the person intended or even foresaw the death.

Officers were called to a home at about 8:39 am April 14 on a report of a death. Police called it a suspicious death and said the October arrest followed a lengthy investigation. Neither the police release nor the court filing says who died or how.

She also faces four drug charges. The court filing describes one as making or delivering methamphetamine in April, and two others as possessing certain controlled substances in May.

State law allows the murder charge to be reduced to a lesser felony if the person charged sought help in good faith, stayed at the scene and cooperated, and the case involved small amounts of drugs not delivered for profit.

She is being held without bail at Wildwood Pretrial Facility. Police said the charges are accusations and that she is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.