Teen girl died in a motel from meth, fentanyl. A Wichita man was sentenced for murder
A 36-year-old Wichita man will spend more than 38 years in prison for second-degree murder in the fentanyl and methamphetamine overdose death of a 15-year-old girl.
Sage Collette was a runaway when she was found dead in a south Broadway motel on April 2, 2021. She was staying in Room 60 of the Country Side Inn, 803 S. Broadway, with registered sex offender Andrew Mills and others when she was given a fatal dose of fentanyl and methamphetamine. Medics pronounced her dead about 35 minutes after a 911 call, court records say.
Prosecutors alleged Mills gave Sage — whom family has previously called “brilliant” and a “beautiful light” — the drugs and had sexual contact with her at some point before her death.
Mills initially lied to police, telling them he didn’t know Sage and that when he and the others came back from breakfast that morning, the motel room door was ajar and the girl was there, naked and passed out, according to a probable cause affidavit released in the case.
He later said he met Sage in the motel parking lot the night before when she approached him and asked for money, a place to stay or a cigarette. He said he thought she was cute and asked her to show him her hair but claimed that he returned to his room alone after telling her she looked too young and “needed to go home,” the affidavit says.
Mills admitted Sage had stayed in the room only after police told him the motel had surveillance cameras. At that time, he denied knowing anything about drugs in the room or anyone using drugs and denied having any sexual contact with Sage, according to the affidavit.
DNA testing later showed Mills had sexual contact with her at some point, leading prosecutors to file child sex crimes charges that were dismissed after Mills pleaded guilty to second-degree unintentional but reckless murder in July, court records show.
He was originally charged with first-degree felony murder, aggravated indecent liberties with a child and indecent liberties with a child, all felonies. At the time of Sage’s death, Mills was on parole in a 2010 case where he had been accused of raping an intoxicated woman, records show.
At Mills’ sentencing hearing Thursday, Sedgwick County Assistant District Attorney Shannon Wilson and defense lawyer Philip White both asked District Judge Jeffrey Goering to follow the plea agreement and order 460 months in prison.
Mills told the judge he wanted to take responsibility for Sage’s tragic death before apologizing to her family, thanking his own for their support and promising to make better choices going forward.
“I can’t change the past. All I can do is change the future,” he said.
But Sage’s grandmother, who adopted her when she was elementary-school aged because her biological mother used drugs and her father died from an overdose, said that Mills was exactly the type of person she had tried desperately to convince the teen to stay away from.
“He is the evil that I warned Sage about constantly,” Barbara Hogue said angrily over a video call broadcast into the courtroom.
She asked the judge to hand down the maximum sentence so no other girl could be harmed in the future.
“He took the life of a young girl who saw everybody as her friend. ... I’ve never seen any remorse in him whatsoever.”
