Lansing man convicted teen’s death after selling him fentanyl via Snapchat: prosecutor
A 20-year-old Lansing man has been convicted in the death of a Leavenworth County teen to whom he allegedly sold fentanyl-laced drugs via Snapchat.
Torin Michael Baughman pleaded guilty Friday to one count of distribution of a controlled substance causing death, for his role in the death of 15-year-old Nicholas “Cruz” Burris.
On Jan. 17, 2023, Baughman used Snapchat to speak with Burris and make plans to sell the 15-year-old what he thought was a Percocet. Baughman allegedly delivered the pill — which had been “sprayed” with fentanyl — to Burris around 11:30 p.m.
Burris’ parents found him dead in his bed the next morning.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid about 50 times stronger than heroin. A portion of fentanyl the same size as a standard packet of sweetener is potent enough to kill about 500 people.
“When we see cases involving someone that died due to overdose, it’s too easy to blame the user,” Leavenworth County attorney Todd Thompson said in a statement Friday. “We need to hold the dealer, the provider, and the distributor accountable.”
Burris’ parents remember their son as funny and ambitious. He spent hours practicing the piano and guitar and helping his parents with home renovation projects, hoping to become a contractor or engineer.
“He was much on his way to becoming anything he wanted to be,” Andy Burris told The Star earlier this year.
Baughman was booked into the Leavenworth County Jail on March 20, 2024, on a $500,000 bond. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation initially issued an arrest warrant for the then-19-year-old on suspicion of first-degree murder and reckless endangerment of a child.
Baughman pleaded not guilty to the original two charges in July, according to court records, before accepting a plea deal Friday.
Burris’ parents previously told The Star that they were immediately aware of who had sold their son the pill that killed him. Though the couple brought the information regarding Baughman to police, Andy Burris said police were unable to access the contents of Baughman’s phone for more than nine months after Cruz’s death.
It can be difficult to prosecute drug dealers in connection with overdose deaths, The Star found in a nine-month investigation into fentanyl death and distribution in the Kansas City area.
Jackson County medical examiner Lindsey Haldiman told The Star that drug overdoses are typically ruled accidental deaths unless there is proof that someone purposely administered the drugs to someone without their knowledge. Prosecutors must not only prove that the seller knew the true contents of the drugs, but also that they made the sale with the intent to kill.
According to court records, investigators were able to connect Baughman to Cruz’s death through a combination of data from Baughman’s Life360 location tracking app, his Snapchat conversations with Cruz and Cruz’s autopsy.
Since 2018, fentanyl has killed more than 850 people in the nine counties touching the Kansas City area, the Star investigation found. Tony Mattivi, director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, has called fentanyl a “crisis” in the metro area, telling The Star he expects the region’s overdose death toll to keep rising.
Baughman will next appear in court at 10 a.m. Jan. 3 for sentencing.
Previous reporting from Judy Thomas, Laura Bauer, Kendrick Calfee and Jenna Thompson contributed to this article.
This story was originally published November 22, 2024 at 5:38 PM.
