The body of a teenage girl found floating in a Dallas creek Sunday has been identified as the stepdaughter of a Sherman doctor who was recently charged in connection with seven opioid-related overdose deaths in the area.
Police identified the body as 17-year-old Mikayla Mitchell, 17, who reportedly had been violently killed. No other details about the death were released. However, Mitchell is the stepdaughter of Howard Diamond, who is accused of overprescribing pain killers to patients in Sherman, Sulphur Springs, and McKinney, among other places in Texas and Oklahoma. Diamond also faces charges of defrauding Medicare of tens of thousands of dollars by filing false claims, as well as by other means.
Diamond’s attorney, Pete Schulte, announced on Twitter on Tuesday that “there is no connection” between Diamond’s case and his stepdaughter’s death, adding that the family is “devastated” by the news.