Fredonia woman guilty of homicide in drug death

A 33-year-old Fredonia woman accused of arranging drug deals for a co-worker who died of an overdose in August 2020 pleaded no contest to first-degree reckless homicide in Ozaukee County Circuit Court last week.

Ashley C. Daggett was sentenced by Judge Sandy Williams to two years in prison followed by six years of extended supervision.

Daggett, who became a suspect in the death of an unidentified Saukville woman based on text messages the two had exchanged, told police officers in October that she worked with the woman at a Port Washington restaurant but denied knowing anything about her drug use, according to the criminal complaint.

But when confronted with the text messages, Daggett admitted that she had driven the woman to Milwaukee twice to meet with her drug dealer, the complaint states.

The first time, Daggett said, her coworker completed the drug deal by herself, purchasing what was believed to be heroin. Daggett said her dealer, who is known as Tay, threw in a small amount of crack cocaine.

The Saukville woman liked the cocaine and asked Daggett to set up another deal, which she did shortly before the woman’s death, according to the complaint.

Daggett said that after the drugs were purchased, she and her co-worker went to the co-worker’s apartment where they each did one line of the drugs, which were so strong they both passed out. Daggett said that after she woke up, she told the woman she was leaving. The woman replied by mumbling something, according to the complaint. 

The woman was found dead in a crouched position in her apartment on North Mill Street on Aug. 25. She had apparently been dead for some time, and next to her officers found drug paraphernalia and a small amount of white powder that turned out to be a mix of cocaine and fentanyl.

An autopsy concluded the woman died of mixed drug intoxication as a result of consuming cocaine, fentanyl and other drugs.

In a letter to Daggett filed with the court as a victim witness statement, the victim’s sister wrote that her sibling battled addiction for 10 years and was trying to stay clean even as she dealt with the trauma of a second miscarriage. But when her sister most needed a friend to support her, Daggett instead was an enabler, she wrote.

“She wanted so badly to be a mother, to have a normal, sober life,” the victim’s sister wrote, adding that she was the person who found her sister dead in her apartment. “Ashley, she needed you to be her friend ... someone who shared her struggle and to stay strong with. You let her down and her life tragically ended.”

The victim’s sister said she didn’t blame Daggett entirely for her sister’s death, but “I blame you for giving her something that killed her, and I blame you for leaving her alone.”

In letters to the judge, relatives of Daggett described how she too was haunted by addiction.

“Our family has been humbled and broken by heroin addiction,” Daggett’s sister wrote. “It has taken our Ashley hostage and has ruined many years of her and her family’s lives.

“While she has had every reason to give up, give in, she has not. She still fights to be healthy, a good mother, sister and friend again.”

Daggett was also charged with misdemeanor and felony bail jumping in connection with cases pending against her in Sheboygan County at the time of her coworker’s death, but those charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.