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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- A Blair County jury watched three police bodycam videos showing the overdose of 40-year-old Christy Clifford and its aftermath during the second day of trial Wednesday in the case against the man accused of supplying her with the drugs that led to her death in April 2025.
Danny Lee Caldwell Jr., 38, is facing single felony counts of drug delivery resulting in death, possession with intent to deliver and criminal use of a communication facility, as well as single misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The charges were brought against Caldwell after he called 911 to seek help for Clifford and administered five doses of Narcan to no avail. Paramedics transported Clifford to UPMC Altoona, where she was declared brain dead days later, the police report states.
The bodycam videos shown to the jury were recorded by Altoona Patrolman Zachary Nealen, the case's main investigator. Nealen was the only witness called to testify Wednesday by Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Thomas.
Before showing the videos, Thomas questioned Nealen on that day's sequence of events. Nealen said he was dispatched to a residence along the 1900 block of 11th Street for a woman overdosing and observed Clifford unconscious on the floor once on scene.
Nealen told the jury that Caldwell said Clifford was staying with him for a couple days after losing her job in Harrisburg and relapsing. The day of the incident, Caldwell woke up at 9 a.m. to make sure Clifford would be awake in time to catch transportation back home.
Nealen said Caldwell was surprised to see Clifford already awake and sitting on the couch. Caldwell told Nealen that Clifford got up from the couch about 9:30 a.m. and went to the kitchen, where she collapsed.
"He said he did not know what she might be overdosing on," Nealen said.
Nealen told the jury that investigators obtained a search warrant for Caldwell's residence. He said suspected heroin, suspected suboxone and about $191 were found in Clifford's purse while a blue wax packet, a syringe and a small, plastic zip-top bag with residue were by the couch. Officers also obtained Caldwell and Clifford's cellphones.
An extraction of Clifford's phone showed messages between her and Alicia Zelanko, in which Clifford expressed an interest in obtaining fentanyl, methamphetamine and tranquilizer, Nealen said.
When he spoke with the Uber driver who took Clifford and Caldwell to a location in Claysburg, he said the driver was able to pinpoint the address using Google Maps and that it was the same address listed on Zelanko's driver's license.
Thomas then asked Nealen if he had questioned Zelanko in relation to the case, to which Nealen said he had been unable to because Zelanko died a few weeks after Clifford.
Nealen said Clifford's family asked for her things back from Caldwell on April 26, after she was declared brain dead, and he went to Caldwell's residence to retrieve them. While there, Nealen recorded his conversation with Caldwell with his body-worn camera.
The video showed Nealen and Caldwell standing on Caldwell's porch, with Nealen asking Caldwell if he had remembered anything since the incident. Caldwell then told Nealen about his and Clifford's trip to Claysburg the morning of April 23, which Nealen said was the "first mention" of the trip.
When Caldwell asks Nealen if he was in trouble for anything, Nealen is heard responding "you're the guy who called for help and got (Clifford) to the hospital."
On cross-examination, Chief Public Defender Julia Burke asked Nealen if Caldwell had ever explicitly lied to him, to which Nealen said no. Burke then told Nealen that Zelanko had died about June 17, about 55 days after Clifford, and asked why he had not at least sent someone else to question Zelanko in that time.
"I wanted to be the one to talk to her," Nealen said, adding that Zelanko's being alive was not required to gain access to her phone.
Burke asked Nealen if he had gotten ahold of Zelanko's phone, to which he said no because it was in the possession of another agency and he didn't request to see it.
Through further questioning by Burke, Nealen said he didn't know what was in the syringe found by the couch because he couldn't remove the contents and subsequently threw it away, per Altoona Police Department policy on not storing used needles.
Caldwell has been held at the Blair County Prison in lieu of $500,000 bail since his arrest on July 17, 2025. The jury is expected to hear closing arguments today at 8:30 a.m. before being given the case for deliberation.
Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor-Musselman is at 814-946-7458.