Altoona man accused of providing drugs in deadly 2023 overdose

BLAIR COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) — An Altoona man is facing felony charges after he was accused of selling drugs to another man who died from an overdose in 2023.

Hollidaysburg Borough police said Dalton Snyder, 31, was the last person to have contacted the man before he died when he sent numerous text messages about either buying, selling or using drugs.

Officers were sent to a home along the 100 block of 1/2 Jones Street in Hollidaysburg on May 19, 2023, for a report of a 31-year-old man who was found dead in a bedroom. Police said the man was identified as Adam Walter.

A woman at the home told officers she thought Walter had left the residence and explained that he had gotten out of rehab for drug abuse in April 2023. She said she began to notice something different about Walter and assumed he was back to using drugs.

Officers noted that a piece of burnt foil was found on a nightstand and a cell phone was found in Walters’s left pocket, according to the criminal complaint. The phone was not working properly at the time they collected it into evidence, but a trooper was able to fix it and get it to power on. At that time police were given permission to extract any evidence from his phone, according to court documents.

During the autopsy on May 23, police were informed that staff had allegedly found a blue wax packet and a white wax packet hidden in Walter’s sock. The blue packet was labeled “FTO” and the white was labeled “KILLER.” Reports show that the blue packet tested positive for fentanyl and xylazine and the white tested positive for fentanyl.

The foil residue that was found in the room with Walter was tested and it contained a combination of fentanyl and xylazine, according to documents.

The autopsy report showed that Walter died from an illicit drug overdose. Multiple drugs including, fentanyl, xylazine, methamphetamine and THC were found in his system, according to police.

Upon reviewing data collected from Walter’s phone police said they found 164 different messages since May 16 between him and Snyder about buying, selling or consuming drugs. An unnamed person also told police that Snyder used and sold drugs. They also allegedly told police that when Walter got drugs he got them from Snyder.

On Tuesday, Oct. 17 police interviewed Snyder who denied having given any drugs to Walter. He said that he and Walter allegedly got into an argument because he refused to give him drugs. Snyder told police that he did have heroin and that if Walter had taken some from him it would have been without his knowledge.

Snyder is in Blair County Prison with bail set at $150,000. He is facing felony charges of drug delivery resulting in death, manufacturing with the intent to deliver, criminal use of a communication facility and a misdemeanor charge of intent to possess a controlled substance.

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He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for April 23.

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