A 54-year-old man has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder over the death of a man who police say was given a combination of drugs, including fentanyl, in Austin, Texas.
Jose Antonio Martinez was taken into custody on 5 October and booked into Travis County Jail, according to the Austin Police Department. The case is being investigated as the city’s 44th homicide of 2026.
Fentanyl-related death in Austin
Police were called to a construction site on Brushy Street shortly after midday on 24 June, following reports that a man had been found unresponsive inside a portable toilet.
Officers and emergency responders attempted CPR, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene at 1.05pm. He was later identified as Luis Gerardo Cancel-Vargas.
An autopsy found that he died from the toxic effects of fentanyl, hydroxyzine, methocarbamol and trazodone, police said.
The Austin Police Department’s Narcotics Support Unit investigated the circumstances surrounding the death. Detectives concluded that Cancel-Vargas had died as a result of narcotics allegedly provided to him by Martinez.
An arrest warrant for Martinez was issued on 30 September. He remains in custody at the Travis County Jail, police said.
The murder charge is an allegation and will be determined through the court process.
