Florida brothers die days apart from drug overdoses, drug supplier arrested in connection to their murders

Two Florida brothers died from drug overdoses six days apart and police say the man that supplied them their drugs has been charged with first-degree murder.

Joshua Pavey, 41 years old, sold fentanyl and cocaine to Joshua Baker on December 5, 2019, authorities said.

One day later, Baker was found dead from an apparent overdose in his Florida home by his younger brother, Jeffrey Baker, police said.

Three days later, Jeffrey Baker went to Pavey to buy drugs, according to police. Despite knowing his older brother died from an overdose on the drugs he sold him, Pavey proceeded to sell the younger brother fentanyl, authorities said.

Jeffrey Baker stayed in Pavey’s home, used the fentanyl and overdosed, as reported by the Bradenton Herald. Jeffrey Baker was taken to a local hospital and on Dec. 11, 2019, he was taken off life support and died, police said.

A grand jury recently handed down the indictment against Pavey, as he was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, authorities said. Prosecutors said one charge comes from the unlawful distribution of fentanyl and the other comes from the unlawful distribution of cocaine and fentanyl.

Since the brothers’ deaths in December 2019, authorities said undercover detectives were investigating Pavey’s drug trafficking business for months. They bought thousands of dollars in drugs from Pavey and also witnessed other drug transactions in his home, police said.

In April 2020, Pavey was arrested and in July 2020, he was charged with two counts of second-degree murder for the brothers’ deaths, authorities said. In Florida, only a grand jury can bring first-degree murder charges against someone, so Pavey has been held in jail without bond since April 2020. 

He has been held at the Manatee County jail since April 2020.