Beltrami Co. Man Sentenced for 3rd-Degree Murder in Woman’s Overdose Death

A man who admitted giving fentanyl to a woman who died after overdosing on the drug has been sentenced for third-degree murder.

The Beltrami County Attorney’s Office has announced that 33-year-old Jeffrey Needham of Redby was sentenced on June 18 to six-and-a-half years in prison after entering a guilty plea in Beltrami County Court.

According to court documents, on April 26, 2023, Bemidji police officers responded to a call to investigate an unresponsive woman as a possible victim of a drug overdose. The woman was later sent to a hospital in Fargo, where she died the following day. An autopsy determined the cause of death was a fentanyl overdose.

During the plea hearing, Needham admitted in open court that he gave fentanyl to the victim and that as a result, it was foreseeable that someone could die.