Nashua Man Accused Of Selling Fatal Dose Of Fentanyl In Merrimack

MERRIMACK, NH — A Nashua man was indicted on drug charges accused of selling fentanyl that caused the death of a man from Chester in 2018, according to the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office and court documents.

Brandon Barlow, 33, of Nashua was indicted on acts prohibited, death resulting, and dispensing a controlled drug charges, both felonies, on May 19. He was accused of selling fentanyl to Matthew Bailey, 25, of Chester, on March 5, 2018, in Merrimack. Barlow was arrested by the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office on March 8.

At around 7 a.m. on March 6, 2018, Merrimack police and fire and rescue teams were sent to BAE Systems on the Daniel Webster Highway for a man found on the side of the road. Firefighters declared the man, Bailey, to be dead.

In an affidavit, a lieutenant stated there was a cigarette box with a folded piece of aluminum foil inside. Inside the foil was a substance consistent with heroin or fentanyl. Another foil packet was found in his pocket, according to police.

The medical examiner arrived later and the lieutenant noted there seemed to be no injuries to show an assault had occurred. Police also found an iPhone charger but no phone.

Police spoke to Bailey's girlfriend and step-sister about the case and his drug addiction. At one point, Bailey was living in Webster because he and his girlfriend were arguing about his drug use. She also attempted to track him by his Find My iPhone app but it was disabled, the report said.

The night before, his step-sister told police she had dropped Bailey off at the YMCA on Henry Clay Drive to meet up with a friend around 7:45 p.m. and was to be picked up around 9 p.m. after a floor hockey game. Bailey, she said, was meeting up with a man named Brandon, but was someone she did not know. The game ended a bit late and she waited. But after 20 minutes and getting no response to messages, she left.

The step-sister then began to try and track down and find Brandon. She reached out to one of his friends named Brandon who stated he was not with him and got a referral to another one — Barlow, who, the man called, "a piece of s---." The lieutenant took screenshots from her phone.

The lieutenant received a tip about a gas station employee nearby who may have seen Bailey, the report stated. The employee reviewed video surveillance footage from their security cameras and found Bailey on them, the affidavit stated. The lieutenant eyed the footage and saw Bailey get out of another vehicle about four minutes after being dropped off by his step-sister. The lieutenant wrote Bailey appeared to be fine on the video. Bailey went into the store, grabbed a plastic straw, and headed toward the gas station bathroom.

"I know, based upon my training (and) experience, that one way to use drugs is to snort them, and that straws are a common type of tool with which to do this," the lieutenant wrote.

Bailey was in the gas station bathroom for 8 minutes and 38 seconds and as he exited the bathroom, "appeared disheveled and off-balance." He then walked about 100 yards and stopped not far from where he was found dead, the report said.

Bailey's girlfriend reached out to Sprint for assistance getting data from his phone that was backed up on iCloud, including text messages and other information, and then gave it to the police along with a consent search form. Nashua police then assisted in a data extraction of the information. Merrimack police found an instant message with another woman, who, police later found, was involved with Barlow, on Facebook and requested a search warrant for the information.

The conversation, which started on Feb. 25, 2018, was mostly about negotiating a trade for his iPhone for drugs, police stated, as well as a number of slurs.

On March 4, 2018, the back and forth appears to show Bailey communicating with Barlow about finding time to hang out, the affidavit said. Later, after they agree to meet, Bailey clarifies to Barlow that "phone, not cash" was OK and Barlow replied, "Yeah," the report said. The instant message continued as the two men tried to find a way to meet up and come up with gas money. Later, they agree to meet in Merrimack, the report said.

The chief medical examiner released an autopsy on March 7, 2018, stating that Bailey died of acute fentanyl intoxication. New Hampshire State Police also stated that two folded foil packets contained 0.45 grams of fentanyl.

An affidavit was issued against Barlow on July 20, 2020, and he was arrested in March. He is due back in Hillsborough County Superior Court South on June 15.

Editor's note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Hillsborough County Superior Court and does not indicate a conviction. This link explains the removal request process for New Hampshire Patch police reports.

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