An arrest has been made three years after a 29-year-old female died from an overdose in Bunnell.
On July 25, 2020, Bunnell Police Department (BPD) Officers responded to a residence on S. Pine Street (now E. Booe Street) in Bunnell to a possible overdose. Shortly after BPD arrived, the 29-year-old female victim was pronounced deceased. A plastic baggie of narcotics was located within the residence which was later identified as heroin and fentanyl by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The female’s cause of death was determined to be an overdose.
The case was initially investigated by BPD until the City of Bunnell contracted the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) to conduct their major case investigations in 2022. The mother of the deceased victim contacted Sheriff Staly and requested that FCSO thoroughly review the investigation and attempt to solidify who sold the deadly poison to her daughter in hopes of being able to charge them with murder.
Through investigative means and the use of the original case notes from BPD, Major Case Detectives were able to establish a possible suspect, 39-year-old Malika Moulton.
Following a thorough review and investigation by then Major Case Detective Adam Barkoskie and Major Case Detective Kathryn Gordon along with the Seventh Judicial Circuit’s Homicide Investigative Unit, it was determined there was insufficient evidence to charge Moulton with murder in this case. Although there was insufficient evidence for a murder charge, the State Attorney’s Office determined there was sufficient evidence to charge Moulton with Sale of Heroin Within 1,000’ of a Park (Commissioner Louis L. Jackson Park in Bunnell).
A warrant was issued for Moulton’s arrest on August 16, 2023. After over two months on the run, Moulton turned herself in to the original investigator on the case, Detective Barkoskie, who is now a Corporal in FCSO’s Community Policing Division on October 22, 2023.
Moulton was placed under arrest and booked into the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility and later released after posting $35,000 bond.
“Although we could not bring a murder charge for selling deadly poison, our detectives worked tirelessly with BPD and the State Attorney’s Office to still make her face responsibility for selling poison. We hope this brings some closure for the victim’s family,” said Sheriff Rick Staly. “If you sell a deadly dose of poison to someone in Flagler County, we will do our best to find you and hold you accountable no matter how long it takes. I commend every agency involved for the tenacity the investigators showed to build this case and hold Moulton accountable.”
