WOMAN CHARGED IN FATAL OVERDOSE

N.B. Woman Died After Ingesting Methadone

WAUKESHA - An Oak Creek woman has been charged after she allegedly
gave a New Berlin woman a fatal dose of methadone during a road trip
to Chicago last January.

Mary Dundon, 24, of Oak Creek, was charged Thursday with one count of
first-degree reckless homicide and was released on a $10,000
signature bond. If convicted, she faces up to 40 years in prison. advertisement

Dundon was charged after the Jan. 25, 2003, death of Angela
Franceschetti, 24, who was found dead in her home after what her
parents believed was a night out with her friends.

About 6 a.m. that day, Franceschetti came home and reported to her
parents that she'd had a good time but was tired, a criminal complaint said.

But later in the day, she could not be roused and police reported she
was not breathing when they arrived, the complaint said.

A toxicology report found lethal levels of LSD and methadone, a drug
prescribed for recovering morphine and heroin addicts, in
Franceschetti's system.

Going through her cell phone, Franceschetti's parents allegedly found
a voice mail message from a woman named "Mary," where the caller
apologized for giving Franceschetti "too many of those things," and
said she hoped Franceschetti was OK, the complaint said.

A small white pill marked "methadose 10" was found in Franceschetti's
pants, it added.

A witness contacted by police allegedly said she, Franceschetti and
Dundon went to various nightclubs in Chicago the night before
Franceschetti died.

The witness, who is not being named because no charges have been
filed against her, allegedly reported that Dundon was a recovering
heroin addict and had methadone pills prescribed to her.

On the night in question, Franceschetti dropped the witness and
Dundon off at the witness's apartment, when Dundon allegedly told the
witness, "I gave her too many pills," about four or five of them, the
complaint said.

When first contacted by police, Dundon denied giving Franceschetti
methadone, saying she gave her two pills of LSD only, the complaint alleged.

The witness indicated she heard Franceschetti ask Dundon for "some
pills" in a Chicago nightclub, and then asked for more on the way
back to Wisconsin because what she had "was not doing anything," the
complaint alleged.

Dundon allegedly added that she had taken many of the pills in the
past and she was fine, so she assumed Franceschetti would be fine,
the complaint said.

District Attorney Paul Bucher said the case actually began with a
delivery of LSD charge in Cook County, Ill., which was later
dismissed as an inquest was launched in Waukesha County, with the
participation of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office in
Illinois. Bucher credited officials there, as well as in the New
Berlin Police Department, for their investigation of the case.

Bucher said the witness likely would not be charged.

"There is no evidence she participated or was an accomplice in the
delivery of the methadone," he said.

Bucher added the methadone was the primary cause of Franceschetti's
death, although the mixing of that with LSD "certainly was a factor."

First Assistant State Public Defender Sam Benedict, Dundon's
attorney, said his client had been cooperative with investigators.

"This is a complex investigation and we are in the process of a
thorough preparation of our defense of this case, including a careful
analysis of the reports of other citizen witnesses," he said.