A man is headed for trial on charges he sold the drugs that investigators say led to last year's overdose death of a Butler woman.

District Judge William Fullerton at a preliminary hearing Monday ordered Thomas A. Purcell, 27, of Butler held for court on all charges, including a first-degree felony count of drug delivery resulting in death.

The charge is the equivalent of third-degree murder under state law and carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison

State narcotics agent Douglas Brink testified that Ashley M. McKissick, 27, was found unresponsive Nov. 13, 2018, at the East Brady Street home where she lived with her mother. The Butler County Coroner's Office ruled she died of a combined drug toxicity of fentanyl and cocaine.

Brink, who filed the charges, said that McKissick's mother told police her daughter was asleep in her bed when she left their home to go to work that morning. But when she returned, she found her daughter unconscious on the couch. She called 911 around 8 p.m.

McKissick was subsequently pronounced dead. Butler police found an empty stamp bag marked “Ride or Die” and other contraband, including a syringe and straws with residue, at the scene.

A recently received lab report showed that the empty stamp bag tested positive for “fentanyl only,” Brink said,

The agent, who only became involved in the investigation earlier this month, testified that a search of McKissick's Facebook Messenger account uncovered previous messages between her and Purcell that appeared to discuss drug transactions the night of Nov. 12.

McKissick's mother told authorities that “Ashley did not have any minutes (remaining) on her cell phone for several weeks leading up to her death,” Brink said, “and she communicated only through Facebook Messenger when she had an internet connection.”

An analysis of the recovered messages indicated Purcell initiated the conversation with McKissick, advising her about 8 p.m. that he could get his hands on heroin and crack cocaine.

The two eventually met outside a Butler funeral home around 9 p.m., where she paid $30 for four stamp bags of what she believed to be heroin, according to testimony.

During questioning by prosecutor Laura Pitchford, a county assistant district attorney, Brink noted that fentanyl often is sold as heroin, which could explain why the toxicology results found there was no heroin in McKissick's system.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A man who described himself as a “close friend” of McKissick's told investigators that he was with her that night when she messaged “Tommy” for the drugs, Brink said.

She used some of the drugs and later that same night allegedly messaged Purcell again, this time asking to buy crack cocaine.

He said the two met outside the same funeral home where she bought $40 of crack, which investigators suspect that she used.

On cross-examination, Joel Hills, Purcell's court-appointed attorney, asked Brink about his analysis of the Facebook messages between the defendant and McKissick.

The agent acknowledged that there was no mention in the communications of any specific name on the stamp bags that McKissick allegedly bought that night.

“Can we agree today that you don't know if Ms. McKissick went and bought other heroin?” Hills asked.

“I can only state from what I read and analyzed through her phone,” Brink replied. “After these transactions, she did not have enough money to go out and buy more heroin, or any more stamp bags, or any more cocaine.”

Brink admitted that McKissick “was solicited by other people,” apparently offering her drugs; however, he said that the only two “completed drug transactions” that evening were those involving the defendant.

Following testimony, Hills asked Fullerton to dismiss the top count, arguing that the prosecution failed to show that any drugs McKissick allegedly bought from Purcell were the ones that killed her.

But Pitchford in response referred to the Facebook messages.

“Based on that,” she said, “and the fact that (McKissick) ingested those drugs and then died, we believe that those were the only two drug transactions that she was involved in that night.”

In addition to drug delivery resulting in death, Purcell is charged with two felony counts each of delivery of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance, and a felony count of criminal use of a communication facility.

Additionally, he is charged with two misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance. He remains in the Butler County Prison in lieu of $200,000 bond.