Oct 11, 2019 3 min read

A Peters Township man has been accused of providing the drugs that killed his pregnant girlfriend in June, police say.

Peters Township police charged Ronald Alexander Massari, Jr., 28, of Quail Run Road, with drug delivery resulting in death, possession with intent to deliver, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

He was arraigned Thursday morning before District Judge Jesse Pettit.

According to the criminal complaint, Vanesa Jeric, Massari’s girlfriend, overdosed June 16 at Massari’s residence and was transported to Canonsburg hospital. Both Massari and his mother were home when the overdosed occurred, according to police.

Tests at the hospital showed Jeric was in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Two days later, Jeric died at West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh. An autopsy showed she died of a combination of heroin and fentanyl. There was also morphine in her system, according to the autopsy report.

Police arrested Massari for a probation violation the day after Jeric overdosed. Police said they found heroin, fentanyl and morphine in this front jeans pocket.

While police transported him to the Washington County jail, Massari told police he and Jeric had bought the drugs. Police said Massari told officers he knew it was fentanyl from how it looked.

Jeric’s mother told police that Massari said he bought the heroin and gave it to Jeric.

Massari remains in the Washington County jail. Since his arrest, Massari has had several phone calls with family and friends, which were recorded by the jail’s phone system. In those calls, Massari blamed Jeric for her overdose, saying they were going to flush the heroin down the toilet, but she wanted more, according to the criminal complaint.

Some of the people with whom Massari spoke urged him to give police information about his drug dealer, but Massari expressed concern that he would be incriminating himself.

In one phone call, Massari spoke with his mother, who police said “seemed to be rehearsing a story for Massari to follow wherein Jeric obtained the heroin from the bar she worked and took the heroin without anyone knowing.”

“She goes on to tell him that she called every move, and that she told him he could kill (Jeric),” the complaint states.

Police also searched Massari’s cellphone and found that on June 17, Massari conducted internet searches such as, “How do I get in trouble for getting high with someone who dies.”

Massari is scheduled to appear before Pettit for his preliminary hearing at 10 a.m. Oct. 24.