On Monday, the Miami-Dade States Attorney’s office said they were investigating homicide charges for two North Carolina men accused of raping and drugging a Pennsylvania woman at a South Beach hotel.
Evoire Collier, 21, and Dorian Taylor, 24, have been in custody since March in connection with the death of 24-year-old Christine Englehardt.
So far, Collier and Taylor have only been charged with sexual battery, theft, and burglary, but they have not been charged with the victim’s death.
Investigators say that before stealing her phone and credit cards, Collier and Taylor drugged and raped Englehardt. The two men appear on surveillance footage walking out of Englehardt’s hotel room that night.
Englehardt died from “prone positioning while under the influence of Fentanyl and Ethanol,” according to a Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s report released on Monday.
According to the report, the men gave Englehardt a green tablet that looked like oxycodone. A piece of the pill was later submitted for testing, which revealed the presence of Fentanyl.
The report said, “Although the concentration of fentanyl detected is fatal, a component of positional asphyxia, with her face, pressed down into soft bedding as a result of physical restraint and/or chemical impairment to facilitate sexual assault, cannot be excluded.”
Detectives stated during the court hearings that the victim was not able to give consent.
Both men remain behind bars without bond.
