Cathedral City man suspected in New Year’s fentanyl poisoning death to stand trial on murder
A Cathedral City man suspected in the fentanyl poisoning death of a 22-year-old man on New Year's Day last year was ordered today to stand trial on a murder charge.
At the end of a preliminary hearing Tuesday at the Larson Justice Center in Indio, a Riverside County Superior Court judge ruled that there was sufficient evidence to hold Riley Jacob Hagar, 26, to answer on the murder count. A post-preliminary hearing arraignment was set for Sept. 19.
Hagar was arrested Aug. 31, 2022, by the Riverside County Fire Department's Overdose Death Investigations and Narcotics Unit, according to Sgt. Ryan Marcuse with the sheriff's department.
Marcuse said deputies responded to a call in Rancho Mirage about an unresponsive male on Jan. 1, 2022, 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 subsequently identified as the suspect who allegedly sold the fatal dose of fentanyl that killed O'Brien, according to Marcuse.
He was booked into the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio, where he remains held without bail.
The investigation was ongoing and anyone with information was asked to call Investigator Hollingsworth at 951-955-1700.
