Woman who smuggled drugs into Dallas jail faces murder charge in overdose death

An inmate is facing a murder charge after a woman died from a drug overdose at the Dallas County Jail on July 13, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office confirmed.

The suspect, 26-year-old Daisy Zuniga, is accused of smuggling a bag of drugs in her vagina while being booked at Lew Sterrett Justice Center on July 11, according to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by KXAS-TV.

Zuniga and three other women ingested the drugs between meals and became severely ill, according to the affidavit.

Detention officers in the north tower responded to calls from inmates about 8:20 p.m. on July 13, the affidavit stated. “They are not moving,” the inmates told the officers about the inmates in cell C.

Quinnetta Brinkley, 21, was unresponsive in her bunk, and another woman was on the floor of the cell, according to the affidavit.

Inmates alerted the officers to two other women in cell D, including Zuniga, who looked like they were going to pass out, the affidavit stated.

The affidavit stated that officers took both women in cell D to the nurse’s station, where Zuniga fell down and began convulsing and vomiting.

Zuniga told the nurse she had taken “fentanyl and bars,” according to the affidavit.

All four women were taken to Parkland Hospital, and at 9:25 p.m., Brinkley was pronounced dead, according to the affidavit and a news release from the Sheriff’s Office.

The investigation and confession

The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office notified the Criminal Investigation Section about the overdoses, according to the affidavit.

Zuniga was initially booked at the jail on charges of criminal trespass and possession of a controlled substance, according to the affidavit. She passed an X-ray and pat-down without officers detecting the drugs.

While searching her cell, investigators found a white substance in a bag that tested positive for fentanyl, the affidavit stated.

An inmate in cell C told police that Zuniga had held Xanax, methamphetamine and fentanyl in her “crack” while being booked, the affidavit stated. She said Zuniga had given the drugs to Brinkley and the two other inmates.

Zuniga later admitted to putting the drugs in her vagina and smuggling them into the jail without detection, according to the affidavit.

She told police that she gave the drugs to the three other inmates, but that she did not remember everything that had happened.

The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office is continuing its investigation.