Former DeKalb woman tied to man’s fatal overdose in Marengo gets 5 years in prison

A woman charged with drug-induced homicide in the fatal fentanyl overdose of a man in Marengo pleaded guilty Wednesday to a lesser charge and was sentenced to five years in prison.

Melissa Ryan, 37, previously of Belvidere and DeKalb, pleaded guilty to possession with the intent to deliver fentanyl, a Class 2 felony.

In exchange for her guilty plea, other charges were dismissed, including drug-induced homicide, a Class X felony that could have sent her to prison for up to 30 years.

Also dismissed were charges of possession of heroin and fentanyl.

Another drug possession case from 2021 also was dismissed. Ryan was out of jail ahead of trial in that case when she was charged in the fatal overdose.

She is required to serve at least half of her prison term and received credit for 567 days spent in the county jail and an additional eight days for working in the jail, said her attorney, Assistant Public Defender Richard Behof.

Behof said Ryan’s crimes were committed as the result of the use, abuse or addiction to alcohol and controlled substances.

Authorities said that on July 15, 2022, Ryan delivered a fatal dose of fentanyl to Michael David Mancuso, 39, who thought he was getting cocaine. Mancuso inhaled the fentanyl and later died, according to Marengo police and McHenry County court records.

A relative of Mancuso’s appeared Wednesday via Zoom in the courtroom of Judge Mark Gerhardt as Assistant State’s Attorney Fara Momen read her impact statement.

The relative said she and others lost a best friend and a confidante the night Mancuso died. The relative described Mancuso as “an amazing man” with the “kindest heart” and someone who would “light up a room.”

To Ryan, the relative said she hopes she knows she is on the wrong path and hopes that Mancuso’s death could set her on the right path.

Mancuso, who was visiting the McHenry County area from his home in Mesa, Arizona, died in the same Marengo home that Ryan listed in court and jail documents as one of the places she lived.

Witnesses said that Ryan told them she knowingly gave Mancuso fentanyl when he thought he was getting cocaine, according to a motion filed by prosecutors.

Mancuso was found dead July 16, 2022, with a suspected bag of heroin and fentanyl in his hand that ultimately tested positive for fentanyl, according to court records. Ryan was found in possession of a similar bag of powder that tested positive for fentanyl.

Phone records showed that the two arranged to travel to Rockford and buy narcotics together that day, according to the motion.

Ryan was arrested in September 2022, almost two weeks after a $250,000 warrant was issued for her arrest.

Paul Moser, the owner of the house in Marengo where Mancuso died and where Ryan was living at the time, was charged with two counts of concealing or aiding a fugitive, a Class 4 felony, according to court records.

He was accused of alerting Ryan when police were near his home and lying to police, according to the indictment.

Moser pleaded guilty last year to one of the counts, and the second was dismissed, records show. He was sentenced to two years of felony probation and six days in jail.