JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville man and Orange Park woman are each facing a manslaughter charge \u2014 among other charges \u2014 stemming from separate overdose investigations in Duval County, according to the Sheriff\u2019s Office. <\/p>\n
John Thomas Michael II, 48, was taken into custody Friday, July 24, on a local arrest warrant. He is being held at the Duval County jail on a combined bond of more than $800,000.<\/p>\n
John Michael II (Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office)The death<\/p>\n
On March 27, 2024, JSO deputies say they responded to Commonwealth Ave. following a report of an undetermined death. A man was found in his bedroom, where investigators say they also located multiple small baggies containing unknown purple-colored powders and small pieces of folded aluminum foil inside a pill bottle on his bedside table, along with his cell phone.<\/p>\n
The District IV Medical Examiner\u2019s Office conducted an inspection the following day. The Medical Examiner ruled the death an accident, citing acute combined drug intoxication from fentanyl, acetyl fentanyl, temazepam, doxylamine, dextrorphan\/levorphanol, and dextro\/levo methorphan.<\/p>\n
In June 2025, according to the arrest report, the ME told investigators that, in his professional opinion, the fentanyl in the victim\u2019s system was \u201ca substantial factor\u201d in his death.<\/p>\n
The investigation<\/p>\n
JSO\u2019s Homeland Security Division Narcotics Overdose Death Investigation Task Force led the investigation. Investigators conducted a forensic examination of the victim\u2019s cell phone, which revealed text message conversations with a contact saved as \u201cTom Melissa\u201d.<\/p>\n
JSO says a search of law enforcement databases connected that number to Michael II. Records also showed that between March 13, 2024, and March 24, 2024 \u2014 days before the victim\u2019s death \u2014 there were 14 answered phone calls between the victim\u2019s phone and Michael II\u2019s number, according to his arrest report. <\/p>\n
Investigators also noted that Michael II\u2019s address sits directly in front of the victim\u2019s residence.<\/p>\n
A local arrest warrant was issued July 23, 2026, and Michael II was arrested the following evening.<\/p>\n
Charges<\/p>\n
Michael II faces four felony charges:<\/p>\n
Manslaughter\u00a0\u2014 bond set at $700,003<\/p>\n
Sale or delivery of fentanyl\u00a0\u2014 bond set at $50,003<\/p>\n
Solicitation to commit\u00a0\u2014 bond set at $25,003<\/p>\n
Unlawful use of a two-way communications device \u2014 bond set at $25,003<\/p>\n
Orange Park Woman arrested <\/p>\n
A Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office narcotics investigation has led to the arrest of an Orange Park woman on manslaughter and drug-related charges in connection with the overdose death of a Jacksonville man earlier this year, according to police. <\/p>\n
Whitney Lynn Wilhite, 38, of Orange Park, was arrested July 24 on charges of manslaughter, sale or delivery of a controlled substance, and unlawful use of a two-way communications device. She was transported from the Clay County Jail on a local arrest warrant. No bond has been set.<\/p>\n
Whitney Wilhite (Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office)Victim found unresponsive in March<\/p>\n
The case stems from the death of a man whose body was found unresponsive March 22, 2026, at a home on Margolyn Court in Jacksonville. Jacksonville Fire and Rescue responded to the scene, where the man was pronounced dead.<\/p>\n
A JSO homicide detective responded to investigate. The man\u2019s sister later located a bottle of methadone in his bedroom inside an open Amazon package on his nightstand. The District IV Medical Examiner determined Brown died of methadone toxicity.<\/p>\n
Narcotics unit takes over investigation<\/p>\n
Investigators reviewed a download of the victim\u2019s cell phone, provided by a computer forensics investigator. The review confirmed his phone number and revealed a series of text message conversations with a contact saved in his phone as \u201cWhitney White IOP\u201d, according to the arrest report. <\/p>\n
A law enforcement database query linked the phone number associated with that contact to Whitney Lynn Wilhite through multiple prior arrest records, including a Florida Highway Patrol report from December 2020 and a JSO report from August 2020.<\/p>\n
Text messages tied to drug transaction<\/p>\n
According to the arrest report, investigators reviewed text message exchanges between the victim and Wilhite in the days leading up to his death, including conversations on the morning of March 22, 2026 \u2014 the day he died. The arrest report states the content of those messages, along with cell site location data obtained through court-issued search warrants, supported the conclusion that Wilhite sold the victim the methadone that caused his death.<\/p>\n
Charges, warrant details<\/p>\n
Wilhite faces the following charges:<\/p>\n
Manslaughter\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sale, manufacture, or delivery of a controlled substance\u00a0<\/p>\n
Unlawful use of a two-way communications device<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville man and Orange Park woman are each facing a manslaughter charge \u2014 among…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,1872,7975],"class_list":["post-355367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jso","tag-overdose"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}