NASHVILLE (MNPD) – Specialized Investigations Division detectives Saturday night charged James F. Burns, 57, with possession of cocaine (laced with fentanyl) for resale after 28 individually packaged small bags of cocaine with a total weight of 35 grams were found in his backpack at his 1818 Church Street apartment. Burns admitted to detectives that he sold cocaine in the downtown area.
The initial police visit to Burns’ apartment was related to the investigation into Saturday morning’s death of Haley Morgan Easley, 27, who was found unconscious and not breathing on a patio on the ground floor of the apartment complex at 2:45 a.m. on Saturday. Easley had extensive internal injuries indicative of a fall from the balcony of an apartment several levels above the patio. She was pronounced dead upon arrival at a nearby hospital. Easley’s death is unclassified at present as detectives await toxicology testing from the medical examiner’s office.
During the death investigation, led over the weekend by Homicide Detective David Studer, it was determined that Easley accompanied Burns into the apartment building shortly before 2:30 a.m. Saturday, and even conversed with other residents in the lobby. Burns has admitted to Easley visiting his apartment and to placing a plate with cocaine on it on a table prior to him leaving to go speak with someone in the lobby. Burns said when he returned, Easley was gone. He said he went back to the lobby to look for her (a claim supported by video surveillance) before returning to the apartment and going to bed.
Specialized Investigations Division narcotics detectives continue to assist Homicide Unit detectives in this continuing investigation.
A judicial commissioner set Burns’ bond at $25,000, which he posted.
