A man charged in the August drug-related death of a Manassas area man is now facing additional charges.
A grand jury last week indicted Dartagnan Simmons, 38, of 10779 Primrose Court in the Manassas area, on charges of distributing cocaine and heroin in connection with the Aug. 26 death of 41-year-old Gregory Thorton.
Simmons was set to stand trial Monday on charges of murder and concealing a dead body for Thorton’s death, but his trial was continued because of the new charges.
Simmons is now scheduled to stand trial on all four charges Nov. 2.
According to previous court testimony, Thorton went to the house on Primrose Court on Aug. 26 to use drugs.
Prosecutors believe that either Simmons or 44-year-old Vita Russotto prepared a lethal dose of heroin and injected Thorton with it. Prosecutors believe that the two planned to kill Thorton because they were angry that he had beaten up a friend of theirs earlier that month.
After he was injected with the drug, Thorton began foaming at the mouth and soon died, prosecutors said.
Police believe that Simmons and Russotto then enlisted the help of another man, Shane Westfall, 25, to drive Thorton’s body to Washington, where they left it in an empty parking lot.
When Thorton’s body was found, Washington police investigated it as a suspicious death.
On Sept. 12, a witness came forward and to tell authorities that Thorton’s death was a murder and to name Simmons and Russotto as suspects.
Russotto pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and concealing a dead body. He is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday.
At her plea hearing in April, Russotto said that Thorton’s death did not happen the way prosecutors said it did. She said Thorton asked for the drugs that ultimately killed him, but neither she nor Simmons intended his death.
Westfall is also charged for concealing a dead body and is set to stand trial in September.
Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014.
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