An Austin man has been charged in connection with the sale of suspected fentanyl-laced pills which may have led to the death of a 56-year-old woman in December 2021. Curtis James Habbit, 66, is facing a third-degree felony charge for delivery of a controlled substance causing death. According to CBS Austin, the woman's body was discovered on December 4, after the Austin police responded to a welfare call at her northeast Austin apartment.
The discovery included a glass pipe and a clear plastic bag with a small blue pill testing positive for fentanyl. Text message exchanges between the victim and Habbit revealed an arrangement to meet on December 3 for her to purchase blue "M-30" pills — a street drug imitating Oxycodone but possibly containing fatal doses of fentanyl. The conversation implicates Habbit in the woman’s fatal purchase. Habbit, who was previously flagged as a drug dealer in the Austin Police Department's database as far back as 2013, is currently held at the Travis County Jail on a $50,000 bond.
Detailing the events leading up to the tragic discovery, KXAN reported that the woman's boyfriend took her to meet Habbit at an Austin gas station where she purchased two pills. Following the exchange, she was dropped off at her apartment, which was later forcibly entered by her anxious boyfriend after finding it unexpectedly locked, where he found her lifeless.
In a twist, following the woman's demise, Habbit reached out via text professing his innocence to a family member of the victim. "I been doing this 30 years," Habbit said in a voice message according to court records. "I swear to God. I never had no fentanyl. I wouldn’t ever do that to her. I loved [her]. I loved the woman and did more for her than you will ever know." Conversations allude to a long-standing relationship between the dealer and the deceased.
