NC men accused of raping, drugging woman found dead in Miami Beach hotel could face homicide charges

By Louis Casiano

Two North Carolina men charged with drugging and raping a woman who was found dead during spring break in a Miami Beach hotel could face homicide charges, authorities said Tuesday.

Evoire Collier, 21, and Dorian Taylor, 24, allegedly drugged Christine Englehardt with a “green pill” – believed to be the narcotic Percocet – before raping her and stealing her credit cards to fund their South Beach vacation.

They are currently charged with sexual battery as well as burglary with battery, theft and credit card fraud in connection with the March 18 attack. The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office told Fox News on Tuesday that “homicide charges are being investigated against these two charged individuals.”

The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner on Monday revealed that Englehardt died from “prone positioning,” or facedown, “while under the influence of fentanyl and ethanol,” People reported. The report said the men allegedly provided her with a pill resembling oxycodone but that actually contained fentanyl. They were found with two pills when they were arrested, the news outlet reported.

“Although the concentration of fentanyl detected is fatal, a component of positional asphyxia, with her face pressed down into soft bedding as a result of physical restraint and/or chemical impairment to facilitate sexual assault, cannot be excluded,” the medical examiner’s report reads.

Englehardt, 24, a Pennsylvania resident, traveled to Miami for spring break, as did Collier and Taylor, both of Greensboro, North Carolina. Both men were seen on surveillance video entering the Albion Hotel with an impaired Englehardt around 1 a.m. on March 18 and leaving the room a short time later.

It was unclear if she died while the pair were allegedly still in her room.

During the chaotic spring break in Miami Beach, more than 1,000 people were arrested following days of unrest as many visitors engaged in “lawlessness and an ‘anything goes’ party attitude,” officials said at the time. The city issued curfews and enacted closures to clamp down on the unrest.