February 20th, 2023 – 12:35 PM

David Crowder – WRGA News –

A Calhoun man has been found guilty of murder in Bartow County.

41-year-old Erik Gavin Ovalle sold heroin laced with fentanyl to 16-year-old Gabriel Martin Nicholson in June of 2021 in the parking lot of the Mcdonald’s in Adairsville. 

Within hours of using the drug, the teen was dead.  Unaware of Nicholson’s death, Ovalle kept texting the young man asking if he wanted more.  Nicholson’s friend took the phone with the texts to Adairsville Police. 

They began an investigation, set up a controlled buy and Ovalle was arrested with the same fentanyl-laced drugs in his possession.