Shawn Gardner
Shawn Gardner, 37, of Newport, Vermont, was an active volunteer with the North Troy Volunteer Fire Department, and his attorney wrote that before 2022 he had stayed off drugs and alcohol and started a cleaning business with his wife. The attorney said his struggles began after two close family members died. Gardner died on July 26, 2023, at Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans, where he was held. Vermont State Police said he collapsed in a shower area after taking an unknown substance, and according to police the final autopsy found acute mixed drug intoxication involving fentanyl, xylazine and cocaine, with the manner of death classified as an accident.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of an overdose. The final autopsy found acute mixed drug intoxication involving fentanyl, xylazine and cocaine, and Vermont State Police ruled the manner an accident from use of illicit substances.
Reported by: Vermont State Police (outside investigators); state Chief Medical Examiner's Office (medical examiner or coroner).
Sources (7)
- Vermont DOC Reports Death of Incarcerated Individual in St. Albans
- Inmate found dead at NWSCF identified as 37-year-old Newport man
- Vermont State Police investigate death at St. Albans state prison
- Vermont State Police ID inmate who died at Northwest State Correctional Facility
- NEK man with sex assault, drug record dies of likely overdose in prison
- Police say St. Albans prison death in July resulted from accidental drug overdose
- A Vermont family searches for answers after son’s fatal overdose in prison