SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – Two people have been arrested and placed in federal prison in connection with a fatal drug overdose of a Park City woman.
The two men arrested have been identified as 32-year-old Jimmy Astudillo of Salt Lake City and 36-year-old and 36-year-old Zachary Westerman of Sandy.
The case first began in 2018 when Park City officers, along with the Summit County Sheriff’s Department found a woman deceased in her apartment. Her cause of death was determined as a drug overdose resulting from heroin and methamphetamine.
An investigation into the source of the illegal drugs led investigators to the arrest of Astudillo and Westerman. Astudillo has been sentenced to 65 months in federal prison and Westerman has been sentenced to 36 months in federal prison.
After obtaining a warrant, investigators looked into private Facebook messages between the suspects and the victim and discovered Westerman had supplied the illegal drugs to the victim. Westerman later revealed that his supplier was Astudillo.
Federal search warrants obtained revealed tons of drug trafficking conversations between Astudillo and his customers. Federal agents planned a sting operation by purchasing an ounce of heroin from Astudillo for $1,200 back in 2018. Astudillo bragged to officers that his drugs were “fire,” meaning high-quality.
During a second purchasing attempt, Astudillo tried convincing the officer to enter his car so he could drive him to his drug supply source, but the officer refused. After some back-and-forth, Astudillo was agitated and drove away. Upon searching Astudillo’s home, officers discovered about a pound of heroin in his possession.
Later, authorities say Astudillo called his heroin supplier and advised him to destroy his phones while expressing the hope that he “could get back in the swing of things,” with the supplier once he was out of custody.
