By James Brown
Glasgow News 1
A man incarcerated in the Lee Adjustment Center in Beatyville, Kentucky, appeared in Barren Circuit Court on Monday via Zoom.
Tramaine Warren of Shelbyville is presently in jail after pleading guilty to multiple drug trafficking charges in 2025. He is charged in Barren County with second degree manslaughter in the April 2024 death of Ryneisha Whitlow.
Whitlow was found dead in an apartment off Columbia Avenue late on April 25, 2024, according to Glasgow Police Detective Sgt. Aaron Cowan.
During a recent interview, Cowan explained how the investigation began into Whitlow’s death and how it led to Warren.
Emergency medical personnel and Glasgow police officers responded to the residence off Columbia Avenue shortly after 11 p.m. on April 25, 2024. The call was for an unresponsive female. She was determined to be dead by medical personnel.
Ryneisha Whitlow
“I responded to the scene to start my investigation,” Cowan said. “It was determined by evidence collected at the scene and talking to family on scene, that the death could have been attributed to an overdose of fentanyl, an illicitly manufactured synthetic opioid.”
“An autopsy was conducted in Louisville at the Kentucky Office of the Medical Examiner to aid in the determination of cause and manner of death of the victim,” Cowan said. “Final reports from these autopsies can take several weeks to be completed and even longer for final toxicology reports.”
He explained that further investigation uncovered that Whitlow had traveled to Shelby County to purchase a quantity of counterfeit Roxycodone pills, which are commonly called M30s. The pills were suspected of containing fentanyl.
Cowan’s investigation led to Warren as the person who had allegedly sold the counterfeit pills to Whitlow.
Counterfeit pills are fake medications that have different ingredients than the actual medication, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s website. “They may contain no active ingredient, the wrong active ingredient, or have the right ingredient but in an incorrect quantity. Counterfeit pills may contain lethal amounts of fentanyl or methamphetamine and are extremely dangerous because they often appear identical to legitimate prescription pills, and the user is likely unaware of how lethal they can be.”
Cowan explained that he obtained a search warrant for Warren’s residence in Shelby County in May 2024.
“Upon searching the residence, law enforcement seized a large quantity of counterfeit pills containing fentanyl, fentanyl in a powder form, quantities of other illegal drugs and two stolen firearms,” he said. “Mr. Warren was taken into custody that date [and] charged with multiple felony offenses by the Kentucky State Police. Additional law enforcement officers assisted in executing the search warrant, including a detective with the Barren River Drug Task Force and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department.”
Cowan said after that the autopsy report was received and it stated Whitlow’s death was due to “acute multi-drug intoxication (fentanyl, acetylfentanyl, and fluorofentanyl).”
Warren pleaded guilty in July 2025 to multiple felony drug trafficking offenses, which included evidence collected in the May 2024 search at his Shelby County residence.
Cowan said that earlier this year he presented the manslaughter case to the U.S. Attorney in Bowling Green and to the Commonwealth Attorney in Barren County.
“It was later determined that this case would be best suited for prosecution in state court,” he said.
That led to Warren being indicted by a Barren County grand jury in June on second-degree manslaughter, a Class C felony.
“I just hope that at the end of this case, the family of the victim can get some type of closure in the death of their daughter,” Cowan said. “I saw the daughter of the deceased out in public recently and just hope that she can live a happy and prosperous life and always know that she was loved by her mother.”
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