SULLIVAN COUNTY — An investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Bristol, Tennessee Police Department has resulted in the indictment of a Kingsport woman on murder charges in connection to an overdose death.

In July, TBI Special Agents, Detectives with the Bristol, Tennessee Police Department, and investigators with the 2nd Judicial Drug Task Force, working jointly as part of the Sullivan County Drug Related Death Task Force, began investigating the circumstances leading to an overdose that resulted in the death of a Sullivan County woman. During the course of the investigation, authorities learned that the victim purchased heroin laced with fentanyl, shortly before she overdosed. Further investigation revealed that Tonya Gray,  38, was the individual responsible for distributing the drugs to the victim.

On November 6, the Sullivan County grand jury returned indictments charging Gray with one count of second-degree murder, three counts of sale of heroin, one count of delivery of heroin, one count of sale of fentanyl, and one count of delivery of fentanyl. On Thursday, Gray was arrested and booked into the Sullivan County Jail on a $100,000 bond.

The Sullivan County Drug Related Death Task Force is a partnership between the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, 2nd Judicial District Drug Task Force, 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office, Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office, Bristol, TN Police Department, Kingsport Police Department, Drug Enforcement Administration, Tennessee National Guard, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The goal of the task force is to pursue those distributing deadly drug combinations that are resulting in epidemic levels of addiction and death in Northeast Tennessee. In 2017, Sullivan County was designated as a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). The task force is funded through the Appalachia HIDTA initiative, which uses a multi-disciplinary approach to address public health and safety issues that center around the opioid epidemic as well as other dangerous drug trends.