Janesville man held in heroin death

Janesville ~ Derek Kraabel’s parents knew he had used heroin, but they thought he had stopped.

Then they discovered their 29-year-old son’s body on their basement floor March 3.

The story is familiar to families who have gone through similar heartbreak as heroin and related drugs continue to plague the nation.

The man accused of supplying heroin that Kraabel snorted that day was formally charged Thursday in Rock County Court.

Taylor Fraunfelder, 23, of 2042 Pierce St., Janesville, faces a charge of first-degree reckless homicide, two counts of delivery of heroin and a charge of second-degree recklessly endangering safety in another overdose on Oct. 5 that the victim survived.

Fraunfelder was not charged with child neglect, one of the charges cited when he was arrested, for having needles and a scales with suspected drug residue in the room he shared with a young boy he knows.

The charges combined come with maximum penalties of 75 years in the correctional system.

In court Thursday, Assistant District Attorney Gwanny Tjoa said the repetitive nature of the crimes alleged suggests a danger to the community, and because Fraunfelder had missed two court appearances in the past, the prosecutor asked for a high cash bond, $50,000.

Court Commissioner Stephen Meyer agreed and imposed that amount.

Fraunfelder and Kraabel met in the Rock County Education and Criminal Addiction Program, a rehabilitation-focused program for jail inmates, according to the criminal complaint.

Fraunfelder told police he was supplying Kraabel regularly last spring.

Social media messages discovered after Kraabel’s death show Fraunfelder agreed to supply Kraabel with drugs on March 2 and again on March 3. The messages corresponded with the account of Kraabel’s brother Jamie, who described going with Derek to get the heroin and snorting it with Derek the day he died, according to the complaint.

Jamie Kraabel was taking naltrexone for his alcohol addiction, according to the complaint, and the medication included an opiate blocker, so he did not get high when the heroin was injected into his hand.

Nevertheless, the brothers divided the remaining heroin and snorted it, according to the complaint.

Jamie went upstairs, and that was the last time he saw his brother alive, the complaint indicates.

In the Oct. 5 incident, a man was found unconscious after the car he was driving stopped in the median at Deerfield Drive and Humes Road in Janesville, according to the complaint.

Officers found a substance believed to be the powerful opioid fentanyl in the car, along with a rolled-up dollar bill.

The man was treated with Narcan and regained consciousness, according to the complaint, and social media messages connected the overdose victim to Fraunfelder.

Fraunfelder admitted selling drugs to both men, according to the complaint.

Fraunfelder told police he went to Derek Kraabel’s funeral, according to the complaint, but he stayed for only a few minutes.