The drug order Brittney Irving was scrambling to fill in the days leading up to her disappearance and death was for 70 pounds of marijuana, according to a drug broker Irving was working with.
Text messages between Irving and Brad Saari were read out in court during Joelon Verma’s murder trial on Wednesday, detailing the duo’s efforts to buy and sell marijuana for both Irving’s big deal and other orders that Saari was looking to fill.
The court heard that Saari and Irving would receive samples of various sized lots of marijuana to present to their buyer, and then arranged the price they were willing to pay for the pot if it was deemed acceptable by the buyer.
Saari was initially approached via text message on April 4, 2010 about helping Irving fill her 70 pound order, the court heard.
Irving told Saari via text that she was getting together the order with a friend. “He’s doing it to help me with a lawyer,” she wrote.
The previous month, the court heard, Irving was arrested for growing marijuana. She was last seen alive on April 6, 2010 and her Ford Explorer was found abandoned on Philpott Road on April 7, 2010—ironically the same road she once lived on.
Saari testified that he learned from Irving that she had once lived at a Philpott Road property that he owned.
He had a grow operation at the property, but didn’t know if Irving had ever tended a grow at that location.
“She mentioned it had a nice spot to do it, but she didn’t mention whether she did it herself,” Saari testified.
Saari, the court heard, met Irving within the year before her death and began a sexual relationship with her. Soon after, he learned she was a drug broker, as he was at the time, and they completed some drug deals before her death in April 2010.
Joelon Verma is on trial for first degree murder in connection to her death.
By Cheryl Wierda, Capital News contributor
Week 2:
