Complaint: Phone calls from jail led to homicide charges against 2 in 2017 fentanyl OD death
Demillion Moore
DOUSMAN -- Homicide charges were filed Tuesday, March 10 against two men accused in connection with the fentanyl overdose death of Jeremie Bischel, 26, which happened Sept. 6, 2017 at a home on Main Street near Sunset Drive in Dousman. According to prosecutors, Demillion Moore, 27, ran a drug operation from jail, and Friday Williams, 25, under Moore's instruction, sold the fentanyl that killed Bischel. Both men face one count of first-degree reckless homicide/deliver drugs, as party to a crime.
According to the criminal complaint, a search of the Dousman property where Bischel died revealed marijuana, pipes, a digital scale, and corner-cut baggies with suspected heroin residue. The complaint said fentanyl was found on one of the bags in Bischel's room, along with a mixture of DNA from two people, including Bischel's girlfriend.
An autopsy revealed Bischel died as a result of opioid intoxication -- fentanyl and heroin.
Interview with Bischel's girlfriend
Jeremie Bischel
Investigators learned Bischel's girlfriend was the last to see him alive on Sept. 5, 2017. The complaint said she came to the home that night, and she and Bischel went to his room. She left alone less than an hour later. In an initial interview with investigators, prosecutors said she denied using heroin. She said she picked Bischel up that night, they went to Kwik Trip for food, drove around Wales, and then returned to the home. She said when she left, Bischel was playing video games and "seemed fine."
In a subsequent interview, she admitted to using heroin for two to three years after first using Percocet, the complaint said. She said she tried heroin with Bischel in August 2017, and they used it together about three times. She said the night before he died, she picked him up, went to Kwik Trip, and she then ordered heroin. The complaint said they drove to Milwaukee and picked up the heroin at a home on S. 22nd Street near National Avenue. When asked if it was possible they received fentanyl, she responded, "You never know out there."
Phone calls from jail
An investigation revealed the woman called a phone number that night that was from the House of Correction, and investigators learned Moore had also called that number.
The criminal complaint noted that it is common for suspects to call their own number from jail if it's used to conduct drug transactions, with investigators noting that other members of the criminal organization will use the number while the owner is jailed, and the owner uses it to check in with members of the organization on the outside. Investigators learned the number was attached to someone with the nickname "Bull Bill," and Moore used a Facebook account with the name "Bill Ona Grind." The complaint referenced a second number found in the woman's phone that was also determined to be a "dope" number which was associated with the other number -- both of them linked to Moore.
The complaint noted that Moore, jailed from July 20, 2017 through Sept. 6, 2017 made "numerous calls to both numbers from jail."
An investigation into those calls revealed the same person would answer -- an individual referred to as "DQ."
Bischel's girlfriend viewed booking photos of 56 associates of Moore, and the complaint said she stopped and stared at one of the photos -- that of Friday Williams -- telling investigators she was "85% sure" he was the person she was buying heroin from around the time Bischel died. In a subsequent photo array, she also identified Williams.
Investigators obtained phone calls from Williams, who was previously in custody at the Milwaukee County Jail and House of Correction, and the complaint said it was "definitely the same voice as DQ" who spoke with Moore in the other calls.
Relationship between Moore and Williams
Friday Williams
Milwaukee Police Department records showed a longstanding relationship between Moore and Williams, including police contacts where the men were together. Prosecutors said Moore ran a heroin distribution operation from jail -- instructing Williams while in custody.
Moore was involved in drugs for an extended period of time, prosecutors said, and investigators noted phone conversations/texts with someone who, in March 2016, was the target of a federal wiretapping investigation by Milwaukee HIDTA (High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas).
Prosecutors said Moore would receive five to 10 grams of heroin from a group distributing on Milwaukee's south side.
The complaint made reference to two heroin sales conducted in June and July 2016 involving Moore selling to a confidential informant in Milwaukee.
Interview with Moore
Moore was interviewed by investigators on Feb. 11, and investigators showed him a photo of Williams, whom Moore indicated was "his guy DQ." He said they'd known each other since kindergarten and admitted to calling Williams from jail "quite a few times."
However, Moore denied ever selling drugs except for small amounts of marijuana when he was younger.