Fourth Ripon suspect in 2023 fentanyl overdose death sentenced

FOND DU LAC – Donavin Muller, 19, is the fourth suspect to be convicted of fentanyl overdose death in Ripon in 2023.

According to Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney, Mueller pleaded guilty Oct. 30 to first-degree negligent homicide.

The court canceled the bail and ordered a pre-trial investigation. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 7 by Judge Douglas Edelstein.

On the morning of April 7, 2023, Ripon Police Department officers responded to a report of a man lying on the sidewalk and found the 18-year-old victim dead at Scott and Stanton streets.

A man and four teenagers were arrested that July on suspicion of drugging a man with fentanyl, watching him overdose and leaving him on the sidewalk without calling for medical help, according to a criminal complaint.

According to Toney, Mueller was the source of the fentanyl, two levels of which were recovered from a shipment made by two co-defendants. The source between them and Mueller could not be charged because he had died.

“Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the families who have lost a loved one to fentanyl and opioids,” Tony said.

During the more than three-month investigation, every officer in the department was involved in one way or another in the case and had a hand in bringing it to a close, Ripon Police Chief William Wallner said at the time of the arrest of the suspects.

The victim was not publicly named in either the police update or the criminal complaint.

Mueller is the fourth and final suspect in the case to be convicted of murder. Co-defendant Mason Springston, 18, pleaded guilty Aug. 1 and has a sentencing hearing set for Dec. 2. Joseph Schmidt-Rebein, 17 years old, declared that he does not participate in the competition on September 6and a sentencing hearing is scheduled for December 20. Michael R. Manske, 23, pleaded no contest Sept. 11, and his sentencing hearing is set for Jan. 21.

A fifth person, Olivia Nordvold, 18, is scheduled for a plea hearing in November on one count of drug possession and one count of maintaining a place for drug trafficking.

The Ripon Township Police Department investigated the cases and Assistant District Attorney David Maas prosecuted the case.

Contact Daphne Lemke at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on the Fond du Lac Reporter: Fourth suspect in 2023 fentanyl overdose Ripon sentenced Oct. 30