A suspected street dealer is accused of helping supply the fentanyl-laced heroin to a 30-year-old Butler woman who died of an overdose earlier this year.

Austin G. Harmon, 23, of Butler was arrested Thursday on several charges including a top count of drug delivery resulting in death — the equivalent of third-degree murder under state law.

A convicted drug felon, Harmon is being held in the Butler County Prison on $100,000 bail in the Jan. 28 death of Chanté Elise Nee.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office and Butler police conducted the joint investigation that led to the charges.

City police and Butler Ambulance Service found Nee dead of an apparent drug overdose after being called to her apartment on the 200 block of West Brady Street.

At the scene, investigators said, police found stamp bags — some blue and some white — that they suspected contained heroin.

The blue bags were marked “Good Work.” One of those bags was empty, one had a little residue in it and five other bags were still full. The white bags, which were marked with a different name, were all empty.

Police seized the bags as well as a syringe and Nee's cell phone.

An autopsy subsequently ruled Nee died of combined drug toxicity of heroin and fentanyl, investigators said.

Later, state police crime lab analysis determined the white bags contained heroin and fentanyl; the blue bags contained heroin, fentanyl and tramadol.

During the investigation into Nee's death, police obtained a search warrant for her phone.

State narcotics agent Douglas Brink scoured the phone and recovered messages between Nee and Harmon.

Nee initiated an instant messenger chat with “Aussie,” who investigators later identified as Harmon, in an apparent attempt to buy heroin.

Harmon's response to Nee read: “he said its 80 but they are blue dbl seals.”

Translated, according to investigators, he was telling her that his source had blue stamp bags that would cost $80.

The defendant also advised Nee that his source would have to drive them to Lyndora to obtain the drugs.

At 11:42 p.m., Harmon informed Nee that he would be at her apartment in five minutes. She acknowledged that message.

At 1:27 a.m. Jan. 28, documents said, she sent an IM to another man who earlier had tried to get heroin for them.

“I did a quarter of a bag,” the text read, “and I'm pretty high LOL.” The man did not respond.

Nee at 2:17 a.m. Jan. 28 initiated an IM chat string with Harmon: “Hey I'm doing another half it I don't answer back in like 20 mins come get me my door is open there's narcan on my bed. I love you Aussie.”

Harmon responded to her four times. Those responses read like warnings.

“Don't do a full half,” read one response. Another read: “do like a third of one or something.”

Another of the responses read: “just be careful plz, I don't wanna see you name all over fb with rip.”

At 2:38 a.m., she responded to Harmon, telling him she was OK. Seven minutes later, she sent him a picture of herself.

Police found Nee dead about 3 p.m.

While the investigation continued, police on March 19 arrested Harmon on a bench warrant. He was placed in the county prison. Authorities took his cell phone and got a search warrant for it.

Brink combed the phone and turned up the “exact same conversation” between Harmon and Nee that was on her phone.

The agent also found an IM conversation between the defendant and another man, who investigators described as an “associate” of Nee.

Authorities had earlier spoken to that man as part of their investigation.

During the March 4 chat, documents said, the associate advised Harmon that he was aware that law enforcement officials were investigating Nee's death.“They are talking to everyone that she called recently, and they asked me about you,” the associate told the defendant.“They gotta prove I did it,” Harmon responded. He also said he had deleted his prior conversations with Nee.In a later IM conversation March 4 with another man, Harmon apparently was concerned about going to prison.“I'm looking at like 5-10,” read part of one response.“I'ma be gone for a long time if they get any proof,” he wrote in a subsequent IM conversation.Investigators on Thursday described the defendant as “a willing participant in supplying Nee with drugs.” They said the investigation remains active as they try to identify the others who were involved.Harmon was still in the county prison when District Judge William Fullerton arraigned him on a charge of drug delivery resulting in death, a first-degree felony that carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.He also was arraigned on felony charges of delivery and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, and criminal use of a communication facility, and a misdemeanor charge of drug possession.His preliminary hearing is set for April 15. Authorities did not know if he has an attorney.Court records showed that Harmon was arrested in August 2017 and charged with selling heroin to a 20-year-old woman who later overdosed at her Connoquenessing Township home but was revived, records showed.He eventually pleaded guilty to felony possession. He was sentenced June 20, 2018, to 30 months in the county's Intermediate Punishment Program, with the first four months spent on Restrictive Intermediate Punishment in the county prison.