Vermont man faces charges after investigation into multiple overdoses

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - After a lengthy investigation, a South Burlington man faces drug charges after a man died inside his home.

Police say after multiple overdoses including two deaths, their investigation led to the arrest of Bruce Erdmann, 62.

South Burlington Police say their investigation started last March when they responded to Erdmann’s Swift Street home for a drug overdose.

They say a woman overdosed on cocaine in Erdmann’s home and he didn’t call for help when that person went unconscious. The woman partially recovered and left the home before getting medical treatment.

Police say they again responded to Erdmann’s house in June for an unresponsive 29-year-old man, Brian Miller.

“The investigation into that death suggested that when Miller arrived, he consumed an unknown pill and subsequently suffered an overdose and died,” South Burlington Police Chief Shawn Burke said.

Miller was a neighbor of Erdmann’s and had gone to the house a day after Erdmann’s wife died, also from an overdose.

Brian Miller’s father, Randy Miller, also overdosed on cocaine and opiates just days after his son died. Randy Miller, a well-known Burlington dentist, was saved by a shot of Narcan. But his OD prompted a state investigation that revealed irregularities in Miller’s prescribing of pain relievers. That led the Vermont Board of Dental Examiners to pull Miller’s dental license.

Then last Friday, police say another disturbance at the Erdmann home highlighted the issues at the Swift Street residence.

“We had another person involved and was the former fiance of Miller, arrived and had a confrontation with the Erdmann family over the overdose death,” Burke said.

Hillary Kozlowski, 30, was arrested. No one inside the home was hurt.

Chief Burke says this whole case is a reminder there is too much stigma surrounding drugs and it can impact anyone anywhere.

“Drugs, they know no socioeconomic difference. Addiction certainly doesn’t. And this is just evidence of the reality that a lot of different families in neighborhoods, in towns across Chittenden County struggle with these dynamics,” Burke said.

Erdmann was issued a citation and due in court in February.

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