Police Allege Dealer Intentionally Killed S.C. Sorority Sister With Fatal Overdose

Police Allege Dealer Intentionally Killed S.C. Sorority Sister With Fatal OverdoseAn alleged drug dealer gave a lethal amount of drugs to a 19-year-old sorority sister who later died of an overdose, authorities allege.

In court documents obtained by PEOPLE, the alleged dealer, Anthony “A.J.” Hunt is being charged with illegal distribution resulting in death, a felony.

He is accused of intentionally causing the death of Rachel Bandman, a public relations major at the University of South Carolina. Bandman’s roommate found her dead in January 2016. She had overdosed on Oxycodone, a powerful narcotic prescription drug. There had been no signs of physical trauma or forced entry into her room.

Richland County Coroner Gary Watts told the judge that he had originally classified Bandman’s death as “suspicious but accidental,” indicating that she had accidentally overdosed. But in Monday’s hearing, Watts said that they have reclassified the case as a homicide, meaning that she was deliberately killed. 

Authorities have not yet released why they determined that the case is a homicide.