A Dundee man is facing a first-degree murder charge after investigators say a late-night fentanyl sale outside Winter Haven’s Block Hotel led to a Davenport man’s death the very next day.
A Polk County grand jury indicted 39-year-old William Benjamin Newton Jr. on May 14 after an Organized Crime Unit probe. Detectives say surveillance video captured Newton selling fentanyl to 55-year-old Terry Morris just after midnight on Dec. 14, 2025, in the Block Hotel parking lot. On Dec. 15, Morris was found dead at his Adair Road home.
The indictment alleges Newton sold the fentanyl that deputies believe Morris used before his death. Investigators say they recovered hypodermic needles and a white powder at the scene, which later tested positive for fentanyl. The county medical examiner determined Morris died of acute fentanyl and carfentanil toxicity, according to the Tampa Free Press.
Arrest And The Seizure That Escalated The Case
Polk County detectives arrested Newton on Jan. 11 during a search-warrant operation at a Dundee hotel. Deputies say they found him in possession of multiple narcotics, including more than 2.5 kilograms of fentanyl.
That arrest was part of a larger multi-agency crackdown on drug trafficking in Polk County. According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, those special operations have resulted in dozens of arrests and multiple large seizures of fentanyl and methamphetamine.
How Florida Law Treats A Deadly Sale
Under Florida law, prosecutors can seek first-degree murder charges when an adult unlawfully distributes certain controlled substances, including fentanyl and carfentanil, and that distribution is proven to have caused or been a substantial factor in the user’s death.
The statute specifically lists fentanyl and carfentanil among the drugs that can turn a single delivery into a homicide case. See Florida Statutes §782.04 for the full language.
Broader Crackdown And Local Impact
Investigators say Newton’s indictment is one of several major cases to come out of “Operation Bloodline” and “Operation Flatline,” two multi-agency efforts aimed at disrupting fentanyl and methamphetamine trafficking into Polk County.
The operations have pulled multiple pounds of fentanyl off the streets countywide and have linked suspected suppliers to several overdose and critical-care investigations, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said.
“William Newton is where he needs to be, locked up and away from the community,” Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement, according to reporting by the Tampa Free Press. Prosecutors will now have to prove in court that the sale was the proximate cause of Morris’s death for the first-degree murder charge to stand.
Newton remains in custody as the case moves through Polk County courts. If convicted under the statute, he would face the penalties that Florida law attaches to first-degree murder.
