DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. — A 24-year-old Cumberland County woman was convicted Wednesday of third-degree murder in connection to the 2017 overdose death of Zachary Myers at a Swatara Township hotel.
Kara Hartmoyer, of Mechanicsburg, could have saved Myers' life with a simple 911 call, prosecutors said during her trial in Dauphin County Court.
Instead, when Myers began showing signs that he was overdosing on the fentanyl he ingested with them, Hartmoyer and her boyfriend wrapped Myers in a blanket, dragged him from the hotel room to his SUV in the parking lot, and placed him inside the vehicle. They then went to get food and drink at a nearby Sheetz before returning to the hotel at about 4 a.m., prosecutors said.
Hartmoyer didn't call Swatara Township police to the hotel until approximately 8:30 a.m., after the suspects removed drug use evidence from the room and placed it in the hotel dumpster, according to prosecutors.
Myers was pronounced dead at scene shortly after police arrived.
Moving Myers to the SUV while he was obviously suffering from an overdose was a malicious act that resulted in his death, prosecutors argued at trial.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Stephen R. Zawisky and Deputy District Attorney Erin Varley, who argued the case for the Dauphin County DA's Office, said Myers' death could have easily been avoided if Hartmoyer had simply called 911 rather than isolating the victim.
At trial, the prosecutors played video of Hartmoyer struggling to help carry the almost lifeless body of Myers down a hotel hallway, a stairwell and parking lot.
Had the duo called 911, prosecutors said, first responders could have saved Myers’ life with Narcan, an overdose drug which has been used to save countless lives. Dauphin County law enforcement officers have carried this life-saving drug since 2015.
Prosecutors also pointed out that Pennsylvania has a drug overdose immunity law which protects people who report an overdose in good faith. The law went into effect in December 2014 and provides immunity from prosecution for misdemeanor drug offenses so long as the person reports the overdose and cooperates with authorities.
Judge Richard A. Lewis scheduled sentencing for April 20. Hartmoyer faces up to forty years of imprisonment.
