Charge: Woman’s body rolled in chair through Twin Cities hotel after overdose

A woman who suffered a fatal overdose in a Twin Cities hotel was rolled out in a chair to the parking lot and left there, according to a criminal complaint.

Maria Delos Angeles Contreras, 33, of Richfield was charged Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court with interference with a dead body, a gross misdemeanor, in connection with the woman’s death on July 26 at the Doubletree Hotel in Bloomington.

Contreras was arrested Tuesday and remains jailed in lieu of $6,000 bail ahead of a court appearance on Wednesday. Her attorney was not immediately available to comment about the allegations.

The criminal complaint identified the victim only by the initials B.J.K. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office, which completed an autopsy Sunday, has yet to release the woman’s identity.

According to the complaint:

Police were summoned about 5:15 p.m. to the hotel, where the front desk clerk said she saw a man and a woman wheeling an unresponsive woman in a chair through the lobby. The clerk said the pair were dragging the victim in the chair by her feet.

A woman arrived at the hotel. The witness got out of her vehicle, checked B.J.K. for a pulse and found none.

Emergency responders took B.J.K. to a hospital, but she was dead on arrival. The medical examiner ruled her death was from a drug overdose and that it occurred before police were called.

Hospital staff contacted B.J.K.’s mother to inform her of the death. Someone then called the hospital claiming to be B.J.K.’s mother. Hospital staff members found the call odd because they had just spoken to the mother.

B.J.K.’s mother told police her daughter lived at a rehabilitation facility in Bloomington. Police determined the suspicious call came from a phone number belonging to Contreras, who lived at the same rehab facility.

Police spoke on Monday with Contreras, who acknowledged leaving a body in the hotel parking lot, according to the criminal complaint. She confirmed that B.J.K. had overdosed, the complaint said.

Deputy Police Chief Kim Clauson said Friday that there have been no other arrests or charges, and “last I was aware, the mentioned male had not been identified.”