A Hancock County jury yesterday found 38-year-old Indianapolis resident Stephanie Schofield guilty of dealing a controlled substance resulting in death, concluding that the drugs she supplied led to the October 2023 overdose death of Jerry Moore II in New Palestine. The verdict, returned yesterday, capped a multi-agency investigation that leaned heavily on social-media and cell-phone records. Prosecutors said Schofield called for a welfare check at a home in the 4500 block of South 500 West the night Moore died, then left the scene before officers arrived.
Jurors heard that officers found Moore unresponsive after the welfare check and that an autopsy ruled his death an overdose. Investigators told the court they traced communications and online posts to link Schofield to the drugs at the center of the case, and New Palestine police said social-media and phone records were crucial to building that trail, according to Shelby County Post.
An arrest warrant was issued in 2024, and Schofield was taken into custody on September 27, 2024, on charges that included dealing a controlled substance resulting in death, obstruction of justice and false informing, earlier reporting shows. The charges grew out of a months-long investigation that pulled cell-phone data and social-media records, according to Shelby County Post.
What the Law Says
Dealing in a controlled substance resulting in death is a specific offense under Indiana law that applies when a controlled substance delivered by a defendant is shown to have caused a user's death. The statute is summarized by legal repositories such as Justia, and state sentencing guidance generally sets a Level 1 felony at a fixed term of 20 to 40 years with an advisory term of 30 years, according to the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute's evaluation of the felony code (Indiana CJI).
How This Fits Statewide
Prosecutors across Indiana have increasingly turned to "dealing resulting in death" statutes in recent years as overdose deaths tied to fentanyl continue to climb. For example, WHIO reported a May 2026 conviction in Wayne County, and the DEA this spring announced a federal sentence tied to a fatal fentanyl overdose in Indianapolis (DEA).
Officials have not yet said when Schofield will be sentenced, and court records do not currently list a date for a sentencing hearing. Prosecutors have not provided further public comment beyond what they presented to jurors, according to WISH-TV.
