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Woman guilty in South Elgin heroin overdose death

A South Elgin woman faces six to 30 years in prison after being convicted of supplying heroin to a woman in 2013 who died from an overdose.

A jury took 40 minutes Wednesday to convict Andrea R. Nielsen, 25, of drug induced homicide in the April 2013 death of Abbey Nordmeyer, 24, of South Elgin, Kane County prosecutors said.

Nielsen's boyfriend, Nicolas Allen, 23, of Batavia, pleaded guilty last year and received an eight-year sentence.

Nielsen was convicted after a trial this week in which prosecutors showed she and Allen provided the drugs that killed Nordmeyer.

Nordmeyer asked the couple who had driven to Chicago earlier to buy drugs to bring heroin to her home April 4, 2013. The three used heroin there and went to sleep. When Allen woke up the next day, Nordmeyer was dead, prosecutors said.

In 2013, 22 people died of heroin overdoses in Kane County, according to the coroner's office. That was down from the 27 who died in 2012.

Last year, 18 people died of heroin overdoses but the office is awaiting toxicology results on a couple cases so that number might increase, said Deputy Coroner Karen Engh.

There have been no overdose deaths officially ruled this year because toxicology results are still pending, Engh said.

Kane County State's Attorney Joe McMahon said those who provide heroin must be held responsible for a fatal overdose.

“Heroin is a horrible drug that has devastating consequences, and in this case is a reminder of the dangers that come with illicit drug use,” McMahon said in a statement. “I hope that those who are using heroin in our community get help, but when someone dies because of heroin use, those who provide the heroin will be held legally accountable.”

Judge Susan Clancy Boles will sentence Nielsen March 11.

She was held at the Kane County jail the last 11 months on $150,000 bail, which was revoked after the guilty verdict.

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