Boyfriend of 17-year-old girl who died from a heroin overdose will go on trial for manslaughter

Titan Goodson is set to go on trial for manslaughter after prosecutors say he was responsible for the overdose death of his girlfriend Katie Golden in 2017

The boyfriend of a high school senior who died of a heroin overdose is set to go on trial for manslaughter in an unusual case in Florida after prosecutors seek to hold him accountable for her overdose because he allegedly bought her the fatal batch of drugs.

Katie Golden, 17, had been just weeks away from graduation on April 15, 2017, when she was found cold and unresponsive inside the Harbour Island condominium complex where her boyfriend Titan Goodson, now 20, lived with his grandparents.

Goodson would later tell investigators the night before that he and Golden had snorted lines of heroin sometime after 8pm before falling asleep. He’d awoken at midnight to find her mumbling and breathing heavily, seemingly unable to wake up.

Having called his father – who has a long history of heroin use – in distress, Goodson followed his suggestion to place the girl in a bathtub and surround her with several plastic bags filled with ice. When her condition seemed to improve, her carried her back to bed.

Five and a half hours later, Goodson would awake again. But this time he found Golden laying silent and still; her fingernails were blue, her skin cold and her pulse quickly fading.

‘This is working,’ Goodson told a 911 operator as he attempted to resuscitate Golden. ‘She’s dead, man. She’s dead,’ he said, starting to cry. ‘She’s been dead for … hours.’

Goodson’s actions leading up to that fateful April morning will now be scrutinized by a jury in March to determine if he’s criminally responsible for her death.

Katie Golden, 17, had been just weeks away from graduation on April 15, 2017, when her cold and lifeless body was discovered inside the Harbour Island condominium complex where her boyfriend Titan Goodson, now 20, lived with his grandparents

Golden

Katie Golden, 17, had been just weeks away from graduation on April 15, 2017, when her cold and lifeless body was discovered inside the Harbour Island condominium complex where her boyfriend Titan Goodson, now 20, lived with his grandparents

Goodson would later tell investigators the night before that he and Golden had snorted lines of heroin sometime after 8pm before falling asleep. He’d awoken at midnight to find her mumbling and breathing heavily, seemingly unable to wake up

Goodson would later tell investigators the night before that he and Golden had snorted lines of heroin sometime after 8pm before falling asleep. He’d awoken at midnight to find her mumbling and breathing heavily, seemingly unable to wake up

Prosecutors have accused the 20-year-old of buying the batch of heroin that killed Golden earlier the same day. They also say he didn’t do enough to help her when he found her in a state of medical distress.

A criminal charge for accidental overdose is seldom seen, but with authorities desperate to hold individuals accountable amid a nationwide opioid crisis, they’re slowly becoming more common.

Prosecutors have acknowledged their case against Goodson is based largely on circumstantial evidence, but they say it’s clear he showed a ‘reckless disregard for human life’.

‘There are a lot of circumstances that clearly demonstrate the defendant bought heroin that day and supplied it to Ms. Golden,’ Assistant State Attorney Scott Harmon said in November, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

A cheerleader at Plant High School, Katie Golden had been planning on studying social work at Eastern Florida State College in Melbourne before she died.

After Goodson’s failed attempt at CPR, medical personnel arrived and managed to keep her heart beating. However by the time she arrived at the hospital she was comatose, having suffered severe brain damage.

For three days she remained in the unresponsive state, before her parents Cliff and Dawn Golden made the decision to switch off her life-support machine on April 18, 2017.

Having called his father (seen left, with his mother Michelle) - who has a long history of heroin use - in distress, Goodson (back right)  followed his suggestion to place Golden (right) in a bathtub and surround her with several plastic bags filled with ice. When her condition seemed to improve, her carried her back to bed

Having called his father (seen left, with his mother Michelle) – who has a long history of heroin use – in distress, Goodson (back right)  followed his suggestion to place Golden (right) in a bathtub and surround her with several plastic bags filled with ice. When her condition seemed to improve, her carried her back to bed

Hours later police officers would return to Goodson’s grandparents’ home. Officers noted in their report that Goodson emerged from his room with dark circles under his eyes and appeared to be battling to keep them open.

When police informed him that his girlfriend had died, a detective wrote that he ‘attempted to cry’, then stopped suddenly and stared into space.

‘Did you buy the heroin Katie used?,’ the detective asked.

‘No,’ he responded. ‘Katie bought the heroin’.

Golden’s parents admitted their daughter had in the past struggled with substance abuse, having admitted her to rehab months earlier – but never did they think she’d been doing heroin.

In the weeks afterwards, detectives worked to piece together a timeline for where Golden had been in the hours leading up to her death.

She had been scheduled to work her regular shift at a local bowling alley, but she had called in sick, police discovered, and headed to Harbour Island instead.

From Goodson’s home, Golden booked the pair an Uber to the 4200 block of Taliaferro Avenue, said to have left her with just 28 cents in her bank account – a fact prosecutors would later use to argue that she couldn’t have possibly purchased the drugs.

After a few minutes, at 11:45am, Goodson then ordered an Uber taking them back to his home. Hours later he would contact one of his friends asking for a ride to a pawn shop on Nebraska Avenue.

Surveillance footage obtained by investigators shows Goodson and Golden ‘being playful and affectionate with each other’ the Tampa Bay Times reported.

Officers noted in their report that Goodson emerged from his room with dark circles under his eyes and appeared to be battling to keep them open. When police informed him that his girlfriend had died, a detective wrote that he ‘attempted to cry’, then stopped suddenly and stared into space

‘Did you buy the heroin Katie used?,’ the detective asked. ‘No,’ he responded. ‘Katie bought the heroin’

Officers noted in their report that Goodson emerged from his room with dark circles under his eyes and appeared to be battling to keep them open. When police informed him that his girlfriend had died, a detective wrote that he ‘attempted to cry’, then stopped suddenly and stared into space. ‘Did you buy the heroin Katie used?,’ the detective asked. ‘No,’ he responded. ‘Katie bought the heroin’

Golden’s parents admitted their daughter had in the past struggled with substance abuse, having admitted her to rehab months earlier - but never did they think she’d been doing heroin

Golden’s parents admitted their daughter had in the past struggled with substance abuse, having admitted her to rehab months earlier – but never did they think she’d been doing heroin

The associate pawned the computer for Goodson, took a $20 cut and handed the remaining $115 back to him.

When asked where he believed Golden got the heroin from, Goodson offered police the name of a well-known drug dealer, Yoda, who was known to live along Taliaferro Avenue right where the Uber driver took him and Golden earlier that day.

However, text messages obtained from Golden’s cellphone reference a different apparent source of drugs. In one exchange with an unknown number, believed to belong to Goodson, a person mentioned ‘gramps’ and taking an Uber to see ‘Angel.’

‘And ima get a massive amount of s— from Angel and we’re gonna die together,’ the person wrote, the Times reported.

‘Ahhh,’ she replied. ‘I can’t wait to just be in your arms.’

By the end of their investigation that summer, police concluded they lacked the evidence to arrest Goodson. One detective said they could find no witnesses to prove her have her the lethal dose, or that he, rather than Golden, had purchased the heroin.

The case was closed as an accidental death, but prosecutors continued to gather information. In October 2018, citing new evidence, they presented their case to a grand jury who returned an indictment charging Goodson with manslaughter.

The case was closed as an accidental death, but prosecutors continued to gather information

In October 2018, citing new evidence, they presented their case to a grand jury who returned an indictment charging Goodson with manslaughter

The case was closed as an accidental death, but prosecutors continued to gather information. In October 2018, citing new evidence, they presented their case to a grand jury who returned an indictment charging Goodson with manslaughter.

Assistant State Attorney Scott Harmon said he’d secured sworn statements from Goodson’s relatives along with data extracted from Golden’s cell phone that gave the state ‘significant information about the defendant and the victim and who would provide … the drugs.’

Harmon said the also had located the infamous Yoda, real name Garland Ryan Layton, who had been busted for heroin possession.

Layton and two of his friends have been listed as state witnesses, though it remains unclear what testimony they will offer at trial.

Goodson’s attorney, Norman Cannella said that at the heart of his client’s defense is ‘that Katie Golden, prior to April of 2017, was a junkie. Unfortunately, tragically … she’s been portrayed as an angel who happened to have come in contact with the defendant. And the defendant pushed this heroin on her.’

The state, meanwhile, will be hoping to tell the jury about a phone call her shared with his mother Michelle Goodson in 2016 while she was locked up on misdemeanour charges, in which Goodson bragged to his mom about buying cocaine and pills.

‘It’s going to be a day, mom,’ he told her, prompting her to advise him to take the cocaine before consuming the pills.

Michelle asked where he’d got the drugs from, and he replied ‘Yoda’.

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