O’Donnell, 64, was missing when court was due to resume for the third day. His GPS ankle monitor showed only that he was in a “wooded area,” according to his pretrial services officer. A narcotics investigator then brought word to the courtroom that O’Donnell had been found dead.

Senior U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez later told jurors that prosecutors had asked to dismiss the case because O’Donnell was dead. Mendez granted the request, ending the trial before the jury could reach a verdict. No cause of death was announced in court.

The case concerned a drug sale in December 2024. Prosecutors alleged O’Donnell supplied drugs that led to three people overdosing at a Milwaukie apartment. Jordan Ford-Nyce, 28, died at a hospital; two others, Alayna Saunders and Ronald West, survived after receiving naloxone, also known as Narcan. Prosecutors had dropped the allegation that O’Donnell’s sale caused Ford-Nyce’s death after the cause could not be conclusively determined. At trial, he faced a charge of fentanyl distribution.

The trial had already been disrupted by testimony about Ford-Nyce’s death, which Mendez had barred because O’Donnell was not charged with causing it. Saunders, a key government witness, referred to “Jordan’s death” while testifying Wednesday. The defense sought a mistrial, arguing the statement could unfairly prejudice jurors. Mendez instead instructed them that Ford-Nyce’s death was not an issue in the case and had not been attributed to O’Donnell.

Saunders testified that she and Ford-Nyce had gone to O’Donnell’s Portland home early on Dec. 15, 2024, and that Ford-Nyce obtained drugs there. Saunders said she later snorted what she believed was cocaine and began to feel severely ill. West, who also used the drug, testified that its effects came on unusually quickly and his vision blurred. Toxicology tests found fentanyl and cocaine in both survivors; Ford-Nyce’s system also contained cocaine and fentanyl.

Ford-Nyce’s father, Robert Nyce, told jurors he saw a hand-to-hand exchange between his daughter and O’Donnell in a back bedroom at O’Donnell’s home. The defense questioned Nyce about his role in the events and noted that he had called his daughter to ask whether she had tried the drugs. Nyce denied arranging the transaction.

Evidence handling also emerged as a point of dispute. A sheriff’s deputy testified that a powder seized from an apartment bathroom tested positive for fentanyl. But a straw and foil found beneath a mattress in the room where the three people had passed out were destroyed before they could be tested. Jurors later said the missing items had concerned them.

The case had unusual arrangements before testimony began. A judge from outside Oregon presided to avoid a potential conflict involving Oregon’s chief federal judge, whose niece by marriage was Ford-Nyce. Oregon’s federal public defender’s office recused itself, and an assistant federal public defender from Nevada represented O’Donnell.

Ford-Nyce worked with students with disabilities at a Clackamas County elementary school and was the mother of a young daughter. Her mother, Julie Ford, said she had forgiven O’Donnell and did not want his death to be the outcome. Saunders also said she had wanted the case to continue, not end with O’Donnell’s death. “No closure there,” she said.

Jurors left without reaching a decision. One described the outcome as “shocking, really heartbreaking – all the way around.”