Man Charged With Murder For Alleged Connection to Fentanyl Poisoning Death

(CNS) – A Cathedral City man was charged with murder Friday for an alleged connection to the fentanyl poisoning death of a 22-year-old man in January. Riley Jacob Hagar, 25, arrested on Wednesday by the Riverside County Fire Department’s Overdose Death Investigations and Narcotics Unit on suspicion of murder, according to Sgt. Ryan Marcuse with the sheriff’s department. He was scheduled to be arraigned at the Larson Justice Center in Indio Friday afternoon. Marcuse said that deputies responded to a call in Rancho Mirage about an unresponsive male on Jan. 1, around 12:30 p.m., in the 69000 block of Highway 111, where Travis O’Brien was found dead due to fentanyl poisoning. Hagar was identified as a suspect and taken into custody on Wednesday, according to Marcuse. He was allegedly also in possession of narcotics and out on bail for an unrelated charge. He was being held at the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio on $1 million bail. The investigation was ongoing and anyone with information was asked to call Investigator Hollingsworth at 951-955-1700. Copyright 2022, City News Service, Inc.