photo by: Kansas Department of Corrections

Harlan L. Epps

A woman fought through tears and frustration during a hearing on Thursday in Douglas County District Court as she described finding her fiancé dead of an apparent fentanyl overdose in the summer of 2023.

The woman was testifying at a preliminary hearing for Harlan Epps, 37, of Lawrence. Epps is charged with one felony count of distributing a drug that caused death. The charge relates to the death of Justin Jones, 39, of Lawrence, who died in his home on June 5, 2023, as the Journal-World reported.

On Thursday, the woman testified that she and Jones had been together for about seven months before his death. She said they had planned at one time to get married — the date would have been on the weekend when he died — but had postponed the wedding due to her health issues. She said she was battling cancer, the same type that had killed Jones’ mother not long before the two had met online.

She said Jones had spent the day at home with her and her children until around 8 p.m. when she wanted to take her dog for a walk at Clinton Lake. She said Jones stayed home because he wasn’t feeling well. When the woman and her children returned, the door of the house was locked.

The woman said she had to break into a window to get inside. Then, she said, she found Jones unresponsive with a needle in his hand and a spoon with some blue pills at his side.

“He was dead at the foot of my bed,” the woman said as she wiped tears from her eyes.

Deputy District Attorney David Greenwald asked how the woman knew Jones was dead. The woman said she could tell because she was a trained nurse. Still, upon finding him, she tried to give him CPR, as did paramedics when they arrived, but it was too late to save him.

The woman testified that Jones had fought addiction for a long time. She said that after he hurt his back in an accident at the age of 17, he was prescribed opioids for the pain. After Jones’ mother died, she said, his addiction issues got worse, and he began taking benzodiazepines like Xanax.

In the weeks and months leading up to Jones’ death, the woman said, he had begun acting strange and had fallen more into his addictions. She said she could tell when he was high, because he was usually more goofy and silly when he was on the drugs.

The woman also saw Jones meeting with a Black man in the alley behind her house in the days leading up to his death.

At first, she testified that it was Epps. But when Epps’ attorney, Angela Keck, asked how she knew, she said she couldn’t confirm that it was him. She said she was familiar with Epps because Jones had introduced her to him once in the parking lot of Berry Global, where both men worked. But, on the day of the meeting in the alley, she never saw the man’s face.

She did say that she knew Jones was lying to her about who he was meeting with. She said he told her the meeting was supposed to be with their landlord, who was older and white.

When she confronted Jones about this, she testified, Jones told her that it was Epps that he had met with, and that he was selling Epps suboxone, a medicine used to treat opioid addiction that Jones had been prescribed. Initially, the woman said, she believed him, but later she found out that he had pawned a pair of sunglasses to be able to pay Epps $40 the next day.

Another big change she said she noticed just days before Jones died was that Jones had changed the passcode to his iPhone. She said she could still get into Jones’ phone, because she had previously registered her thumbprint to gain access.

Jones had changed some of the contacts listed in his phone to hide who he was communicating with, the woman testified; she said Jones had saved Epps’ name in his phone as “Cody J.”

According to an affidavit in support of Epps’ arrest, police were able to connect Epps’ phone number to the “Cody J” contact in Jones’ phone. Police found messages between the two discussing “blues,” or fake oxycodone pills, and, according to the affidavit, they believed that Jones had bought 10 “blues” from Epps on June 4, 2023, by the house. In addition, the affidavit alleged that Jones messaged Epps again on June 5 for more pills and that the two met at Crunch Fitness in Lawrence after that. Jones died later that night.

Allegations in arrest affidavits have not been proved in court.

The hearing on Thursday ended early when it became clear that additional testimony from law enforcement would last longer than expected. Judge Amy Hanley scheduled the hearing to resume on Dec. 13.

Epps is currently free on a $100,000 own-recognizance bond, meaning he was not required to pay any money to be released from jail but may be charged that amount if he fails to appear in court.