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Kami Ludwig mug shot (Grapevine Police) and William Shane Nolen (KDFW screenshot)
Authorities in Texas have arrested the 35-year-old girlfriend of a former judge for allegedly supplying him with fentanyl that led to his overdose death late last year. Kami Ludwig was taken into custody on Monday and charged with the murder of 47-year-old former Associate Tarrant County Judge William Shane Nolen.
The murder charge is the result of a novel interpretation of a new law that Gov. Greg Abbott signed in June 2023 and went into effect on Sept. 1, 2023, classifying the supplying of fentanyl that results in death as murder. The law was enacted to combat the thousands of Texans who die annually from fentanyl poisoning, but appeared to primarily target drug dealers who distribute the deadly substance.
According to a news release from the Grapevine Police Department, officers at about 4:45 a.m. on Nov. 20, 2023, responded to a call regarding a deceased male — later identified as Nolen — at a residence located in the 4100 block of Mapleridge Drive. Ludwig placed the initial 911 call and identified herself to the dispatcher as Nolen’s girlfriend.
Upon arriving at the scene, first responders said they found Nolen deceased in his bedroom “with signs consistent with an opioid overdose.” Authorities on the scene said they also recovered “several” additional pills from inside the home.
Police detectives teamed with the Mid-Cities Drug Task Force in investigating the case. Investigators said they were able to get evidence showing that Ludwig had “purchased the fentanyl-laced pills and supplied them to Nolen.”
Due to evidence obtained in the course of the investigation, an arrest warrant for murder was issued for Ludwig on Feb. 9. She turned herself over to authorities in Tarrant County on Feb. 12.
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, when police and medical personnel responded to Nolen’s home, Ludwig appeared “extremely emotional as well as erratic in her behavior.” Nolen’s 9-year-old son was also in the home when his father was found dead with “bluish-purple” skin and white foam around his nose and mouth.
An officer at the scene said they found one “M-30” pill that was “known to be laced with fentanyl” on the stairs leading up to the bedroom and multiple Xanax pills that had been “strewn about on the floor adjacent to the bed Nolen was found in.” Cocaine and other M-30 pills were also found inside the home, police said.
Ludwig was initially arrested that evening and charged with possession of multiple controlled substances that were allegedly recovered from inside of her purse.
A forensic search of Ludwig’s phone allegedly revealed that she had obtained the pills from subjects identified as “Blue” and “T.” She had also allegedly received a package from Louisiana containing an Apple iPhone box believed to be filled with Xanax.
A subsequent autopsy of Nolen determined that his cause of death was an overdose of fentanyl and the antidepressant trazodone.
Authorities are still hoping to track down the drug dealer that allegedly supplied the fentanyl to Ludwig.
Ludwig was released from prison this week after posting bond.
