POLICE: Las Vegas Man Arrested After Helping Roseburg Woman Commit Suicide in Mexico

NUEVO PROGRESO — A Las Vegas man arrested Monday for allegedly smuggling powerful animal tranquilizers from Mexico told federal agents he needed them to help people commit suicide, according to court documents.

And police south of the border suspect they may have found Jeff George Ostfeld's first client -- a woman from Roseburg, Ore.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Ostfeld, 33, at the Progreso International Bridge moments after Mexican investigators discovered the body of a 32-year-old woman in his hotel room in Nuevo Progreso.

An empty bottle of Barbithal - the drug U.S. authorities later found in Ostfeld's possession - was discovered next to the body, which exhibited no signs of violent trauma, said Juan Jose Mancha Barrera, commander of the Tamaulipas State Police in Rio Bravo.

While an autopsy has not yet been completed, Mancha suspects Ostfeld gave Jennifer Malone, of Roseburg, Ore., an overdose of the drug to end her life. Whether she had asked for his help in killing herself remains an open question, the Mexican police commander said.

"He destroyed her credit cards, left the body and escaped," he said in Spanish. "For us, we have to investigate it as homicide."

Employees at Las Flores Inn - on Nuevo Progreso's bustling tourist strip - declined to comment Tuesday about Malone's death. But belongings recovered from the room she and Ostfeld shared suggest she may have struggled with emotional distress.

On the nightstand, investigators found books with titles like What Your Doctor May Not Tell You about Depression. An empty prescription bottle of clonazepam - an anti-anxiety medication - was discovered in her bag. And police later found all of Malone's credit cards cut up in a hallway trash can.

But it was the sight of Ostfeld leaving the room Monday afternoon with her purse that first raised suspicion, Mancha said.

The hotel manager called police because the 33-year-old had not yet paid for his stay. After a bellboy discovered the body, Mexican investigators sent Ostfeld's description to U.S. customs agents, who detained him as he tried to cross through the international bridge's pedestrian lanes.

Ostfeld told ICE agents that he had flown from Las Vegas to McAllen on Friday for the sole purpose of purchasing animal tranquilizers from pharmacies in Nuevo Progreso for use in assisted suicides, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Tuesday in U.S. federal court in McAllen. The drug - which sells for $20 to $40 south of the border - can resell in the United States for as much as $5,000 a bottle, he said.

The documents make no mention, however, of the incident in the Nuevo Progreso hotel room. Ostfeld remains in U.S. custody on federal drug trafficking charges, and an ICE spokeswoman declined to elaborate Tuesday on his possible connection to Malone's death.

But Ostfeld's continued incarceration in the United States is hindering the Mexican investigation, Mancha said. His officers have been unable to speak with their lead suspect since his arrest even though they believe they have enough evidence to charge the man in Mexican court with at least assisting a suicide, a crime punishable by up to 12 years in prison.

Depending on the outcome of the investigation, Ostfeld could face a murder charge that carries a stiffer 40-year maximum penalty, the police commander said.

Malone, meanwhile, remains something of an enigma. Tamaulipas state police have been unable to contact her family in the United States and still have little idea what brought her to Nuevo Progreso in the first place.

Oregon - her home state - is the only one in the union to have legalized physician-assisted suicide.

"We've never, never, never seen this type of case before," Mancha said. "But we have good relations with the authorities in the United States. We are confident we will resolve this."

(Copyright 2009 Freedom Communications Inc.)