An alleged drug dealer made his first court appearance Monday after being arrested for murder last week.
Harold Wayne Salyers, 52, of 1815 Old Ruckerville Road, was charged last week for the Aug. 7 death of Wade Dickerson from an overdose.
An automatic not guilty plea was entered in Clark District Court Monday morning and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for Nov. 14, according to court officials.
Salyers was identified shortly after Dickerson’s death as the person who allegedly sold the drugs to Dickerson, police said. When the final toxicology test results came back last week and showed heroin was the only drug in Dickerson’s system, officers arrested Salyers.
Police had already searched Salyers’ home on Aug. 8, discovered heroin and charged him with trafficking in a controlled substance. Winchester Police Capt. James Hall said detectives found 2.8 grams of heroin, worth about $900, in the home at the time of the search.
Salyers was free on bond when he was arrested last week. His preliminary hearing on the drug charge is scheduled for Wednesday.
Salyers’ case is the first in which Winchester Police charged the suspected dealer in an overdose death. Hall said previously that the absence of other drugs in Dickerson’s system led to the charges against Salyers.
Contact Fred Petke at fpetke@winchestersun.com.
