Cordova Woman has Pleaded Guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Heroin Resulting in Fatal Overdose

Memphis, TN – Glenda Aldape, 42, of Cordova has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin resulting in death and possession of heroin with intent to distribute. D. Michael Dunavant, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee announced the guilty plea today.

According to information presented in court, on the evening of March 28, 2016, the victim, Sean Heywood agreed over the phone to buy half a gram of heroin from Aldape for $75. Aldape texted Sean that she was sending "Mitch" (later identified as 38-year-old David Mitchell Murray) to deliver the heroin. Sean lived with his father, mother and grandmother at the time.

At 10 p.m., Sean told his father he was going to a nearby Huey’s location to have a beer. Surveillance tape showed Sean entering the bar area of the restaurant a few minutes after 10 p.m. and having one beer. During this period, he spoke on the phone with Mitch at least twice. The tape then shows him leaving the restaurant. After a few minutes, he left the bar and got into a car with Mitch, who then sold the heroin to Sean. Mitch then drove Sean home.

At approximately 12:30 p.m., Sean’s father found Sean unresponsive on the bathroom floor. Memphis emergency personnel arrived at the house and pronounced Sean dead at 1:02 a.m. Law enforcement also responded and tagged all of the items as evidence – a plastic bag of heroin in his pocket, syringe, spoon and 0.19 grams of heroin, and Sean’s cell phone. The autopsy results concluded the cause of Sean’s death was a lethal dose of heroin.

The next day, on March 29, 2016, MPD officers conducted a forensic search of the victim’s cell phone. Detective Bogue with MPD took that information and discovered Sean had been buying drugs from Glenda Aldape. Bogue then used Sean’s phone and pretended to be Sean trying to set up another buy of heroin from Aldape at Huey’s. Officers set up surveillance and watched an individual arrive at Huey’s matching her description at approximately 10:15 PM. To confirm that this was her, Bogue texted her again while surveilling her, telling her to come to El Porton instead, which is next door. They witnessed her leave the Huey’s parking lot and drive to El Porton. Officers then closed in on her and arrested her. They searched her incident to arrest and found 0.47 grams of methamphetamine in her pocket, as well as 0.08 grams of heroin and various other pills in her purse. The 0.08 grams of heroin was packaged in exactly the same fashion as the heroin found in Sean’s pocket on the night of his death.

Aldape gave a statement to officers admitting to setting up the drug deal with Sean on the 28th, to sending Mitch to deliver the heroin to Sean that same night, and to being in possession of the heroin on the 29th in order to sell to Sean.

U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant said, "Under our district-specific opioid strategy, heroin distribution cases resulting in death receive top priority for investigation and federal prosecution, regardless of quantity of heroin involved or the prior criminal record of the offender. Our Heroin Initiative also provides time-sensitive case coordination between law enforcement agencies and medical examiners, to ensure that opioid overdose death cases are investigated quickly and thoroughly to identify the nature and source of the drug distribution. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will aggressively prosecute and seek the maximum guidelines sentences in these cases in order to disrupt trafficking organizations, hold the distributor accountable for the death of the victim, and to deter others from selling poison to our citizens."

On August 20, 2018, Aldape's co-defendant, David Mitchell Murray, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin resulting in death, and will be sentenced on March 1, 2019. Sentencing for Aldape is set for April 26, 2019, before U.S. District Judge John T. Fowlkes Jr. Both Aldape and Mitchell face a minimum sentence of 20 years and up to life imprisonment.

This case was investigated the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Memphis Police Department Organized Crime Unit (OCU).

Assistant U.S. Attorney J. William Crow is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.