The Seminole County Grand Jury returned a first-degree murder by delivery of a controlled substance indictment on Tuesday (Feb. 14, 2017) against Brandon S. Hughes, Orlando, for his role in the June 2016 heroin overdose death of Caroline Ralph.

Hughes, 31, was arrested in Orange County on a warrant for murder Jan. 26 and remains in the Orange County jail where he has other charges pending. He will be returned to Seminole to face the murder charge.

Caroline Ralph’s father discovered his daughter unresponsive in the family’s home in Oviedo on June 26. He rushed her to a hospital, but she stopped breathing enroute and later died. Alex Lindsey, a 27-year-old friend of Caroline’s who delivered the drugs to the victim was charged last year in her death. Lindsey entered a plea to charges and was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by five years of probation last month. Officers following the leads developed during their on-going investigation identified Hughes as another suspect in the supply of the drug.

The Grand Jury heard from the Volusia-Seminole Medical Examiner, an Oviedo Police Department Detective, and a Drug Enforcement Administration agent from Orlando before returning the indictment, said Assistant State Attorney Dan Faggard who presented the evidence to the grand jury.