Las Vegas woman facing murder charge in fentanyl OD appears in court

A Las Vegas woman charged with murder after allegedly selling counterfeit prescription pills that killed another 21-year-old appeared in court on Thursday morning.

Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Joseph Sciscento ordered Aria Styron to appear in court again on Monday for a bail hearing. Styron, 21, who is charged with second-degree murder and selling drugs, was arrested last week in connection with the death of Adrianna Folks.

Folks died March 4 from fentanyl toxicity, according to the Clark County coroner’s office, which classified her death as an accident. Next to her body, investigators found charred aluminum foil, a plastic straw and a partially smoked pill that later tested positive for fentanyl, according to a Metropolitan Police Department arrest report.

Augustus Claus, Styron’s defense attorney, said police only linked Styron to Folks’ death through other witnesses.

“The entire basis of the police report here consists of statements from third parties that report to place (Styron) in selling the narcotics, which ultimately killed the victim here,” Claus said.

But the police report indicated that Styron was accused of selling illegal drugs through the social media app Snapchat, and records provided by the company linked Styron and Folks.

The night before Folks’ father found her dead, she told a friend that she bought oxycodone from Styron. Police confirmed the allegation through phone messages, according to the report.

Investigators also placed Folks’ phone near an apartment Styron was known to sell drugs from on the night Folks died, the report said.

Folks had known she was taking pills that were cut with fentanyl. She had taken to Reddit, a popular online forum, to highlight her experiences with the drug, according to Styron’s arrest report.

The night of March 3, Folks posted to Reddit that she was “nodding” in and out of consciousness, the report said.

Folks was one of 174 Nevadans killed by fentanyl, the synthetic opioid said to be up to 100 times stronger than morphine, this year through August, Metro figures showed.

Styron remained in the Clark County Detention Center on Thursday without bail, according to jail records.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.