A Taylorsville man is dead and a family member is in custody after she reportedly injected him with a fatal dose of heroin to “ease his pain.”
According to police, they received a report on Wednesday that a man was unconscious and not breathing at an apartment near 4300 South Twin River Way (850 West). When officers arrived, they found the man — 66-year-old Nicholas James Wallwork — dead inside the apartment.
A woman who said she was Wallwork’s relative told police that between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, she had injected him with “four-and-a-half doses of heroin, followed by two more doses and then one more dose” after that, according to a probable cause statement. The woman added that she injected him “to ease his pain.”
The officers found heroin and drug paraphernalia, including needles, in Wallwork’s bedroom, along with a journal in which the woman wrote the heroin dosages she had given him.
Police said the suspect told them she had lived with and cared for Wallwork, who had dementia, for five years. She allegedly admitted to daily heroin use, and that she prepared heroin for her uncle.
According to the probable cause statement, a witness said she saw the suspect inject Wallwork with heroin.
The suspect was booked into the Salt Lake County jail for investigation of manslaughter, a second-degree felony. She is being held without the option to post bail. The Salt Lake Tribune generally does not name suspects unless they have been formally charged with a crime.