Tyler

By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer

Tyler police found a “copious” amount of assorted prescription pills inside a Tyler woman’s apartment after responding to a 911 call that her 9-month-old son had drowned in her bathtub.

Elizabeth Marie McMurray, 22, was on trial Tuesday for possessing with the intent to deliver 182 pills of OxyContin, a pain reliever prescription drug known as “oxycotton” on the street.

Defense attorneys contend that the drugs found in the apartment belonged to Ms. McMurray’s boyfriend, Robert Kassube, whom she lived with on Thistle Drive, and she did not know they were in the residence.

Tyler Police Sgt. Bill Goecking testified he and other officers were called to the apartment on Jan. 12 in response to a 911 call that Joshua Michael McMurray had drowned in a bathtub. He said they obtained consent to search the residence and found “a large amount of drugs,” including prescription and over-the-counter medication in the bedroom. He said no prescriptions were found for the pills.

Sgt. Jeff Callaway testified about the hundreds of pills he recovered from the apartment, which were found in two nightstands in the bedroom. The largest amount of prescription pills were found in Ziploc bags, while a smaller amount of over-the-counter medication was found in a wooden jewelry box that also contained Ms. McMurray’s high school graduation ring. He said the fact that the drugs were found in the nightstands, where children could access them, was alarming.

Chance Cline, a forensic scientist for the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Lab in Tyler, testified he analyzed only four groups of pills submitted to him in the case.

He tested 95.51 grams of OxyContin, 17.41 grams of methadone, 59.02 grams of Dihydrocodeinone and 1.75 grams of Alprazolam, or Xanax.

An undercover Tyler police narcotics investigator testified that he inspected and identified the pills found at Ms. McMurray’s apartment.

He said the 182 OxyContin tablets, which are a very potent, highly abused and addictive pain reliever, are referred to as “pharmaceutical heroin” because they can be crushed up and shot up like heroin. He said the street value of the OxyContin could be $900 to 1,000.

Also recovered from the apartment were 96 pills of Hydrocodone, or Vicodin, 86 pills of Methadone, 30 Xanax, five muscle relaxers and 14 tablets of migraine medication. He said all of the pills could be worth at least $1,500, but could be worth a lot more on the street.

He said the fact that there was such a large amount of assorted pills with no prescriptions and stored in bags told him “somebody was selling pills out of this apartment.”

“It’s a substantial amount of pharmaceutical drugs to be found in one location,” he said.

Amy McDonald, a Child Protective Services worker, testified that during a conversation with Ms. McMurray, she asked the defendant where the drugs were in the apartment and Ms. McMurray said they would be in the nightstands or a bathroom medicine cabinet. Ms. McDonald said she told the defendant before that conversation that a “copious” amount of drugs had been found in her apartment.

Defense attorney Tab Lawhorn said during opening statements that the large bag of prescription pills was found in a nightstand where Kassube kept his personal belongings. The few pills found in the jewelry box in Ms. McMurray’s nightstand were all over-the-counter medications, he said.

Lawhorn said his client would testify that she did not know Kassube, whom she had been living with for about three months, had the prescription drugs in the apartment. A drug test she was given to by CPS workers came back negative, he said.

Assistant Smith County district attorneys Zach Davis and Richard Crowther are prosecuting the case, which will resume Wednesday in 241st District Judge Jack Skeen Jr.’s court.

Ms. McMurray and Kassube, 46, have been indicted for manslaughter for the death of their 9-month-old son who drowned to death in their bathtub. They await trial on that charge.

The couple has also been indicted for endangering a child, as well as possession with the intent to deliver a controlled substance and delivery of a controlled substance.

On Jan. 11, Kassube allegedly hit a box truck on South Broadway Avenue and led officers on a car chase in southeast Tyler. He was arrested for evading arrest, possession of a controlled substance, driving while intoxicated and causing an accident involving damage to a vehicle. The day after Kassube bonded out of jail, Joshua drowned to death.

McMurray
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