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Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Zanesville Overdose Camerawoman Confesses In Court

A Zanesville woman who filmed her husband’s drug overdose death as children watched instead of getting him medical help confessed to her crimes in Muskingum County Court of Common Pleas.

Keyle D. Anderson, age 33, of Zanesville, appeared before Common Pleas Court Judge Kelly Cottrill on March 1, confessing to the charges against her. Anderson pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering children, and one count of failing to provide for a functionally impaired person.

Anderson will be sentenced in Common Pleas Court at a later date.

On January 1, 2021, law enforcement officers responded to an emergency call made by Anderson. Anderson told authorities that her husband, a habitual drug abuser, was not breathing. Anderson said she had been watching and cleaning him after he vomited earlier that night. She took a brief nap on the couch and woke up to find her husband unresponsive.

He was transported to the hospital, and later pronounced dead. Drug swab tests returned positive results for fentanyl, oxycodone, and other drugs.

As authorities continued to investigate the incident, an individual came forward with new information. According to the source, Anderson, a registered nurse, had filmed her husband’s death on a digital device, copies of which the source obtained and stored on a flash drive given to investigators. Law enforcement was able to confirm the authenticity of the video and thumbnails showing what really happened on the night of December 31, 2020.

The video showed Anderson’s husband was breathing erratically and he was unresponsive to voices around him, obviously in a state of overdose. One voice, that of a child, can be heard saying “Guys, call the doc,” to which Anderson can be heard forcefully saying “No!”

Before Anderson entered her plea, the video was played in court for Judge Cottrill to view.

In addition to the video and photographic evidence collected by law enforcement, details were obtained from several children who were present during the overdose death of Cory Anderson.

Muskingum County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney John Litle says Corey Anderson’s family has demonstrated their dedication to seeing justice be served in his memory.

“Corey Anderson may not have had a wife who would lift a finger to save him, or to save innocent children witnessing his death; but he did have a family who has fought tooth-and-nail with ceaseless energy to see justice done for him and these children,” Litle said. “That love and dedication is a strong legacy.”

Litle says the road to obtaining justice was long and difficult, but worthwhile.

“We knew when we chose to prosecute this case that would be an uphill battle because it involved a crime of omission, meaning a crime that occurs because a person fails to take action, as opposed to most crimes that occur because a person commits an act,”

Litle said. “For Corey, the path to justice has been long and the journey has been slow, but today marked the first step in bringing this awful tragedy to a point of closure.”

Muskingum County Prosecuting Attorney Ron Welch says this case is another example of the impact drug abuse has on our community.

“This case illustrates the far-reaching and devastating impacts drugs have in our community,” Prosecutor Welch said. “The trauma suffered by the children and those who loved Corey is one of the reasons the Muskingum County Prosecutor’s Office prosecutes drug trafficking cases so aggressively. The criminals peddling the poison are selfish, predators who only care about themselves and the money they can make.”

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