Texts called the dose a knockout. Fort Wayne man now faces death-by-dealing charges

Robert A. Combs booking photo. Allen County Sheriff's Department / via WPTA 21Alive.

Robert A. Combs booking photo. Allen County Sheriff's Department / via WPTA 21Alive.

The paper trail starts at a Fort Wayne pawn shop on Aug. 11.

Surveillance cameras, according to charging papers summarized by WPTA 21Alive, captured a man handing Robert A. Combs $10. Later that day the buyer texted a number tied to Combs: he wanted "some more slow," slang prosecutors say tracks with opioids, and added that the stuff was "a knockout for sure."

The reply, court records say, was blunt: come buy more — the seller was not going to make his spot "hot" for a little half-point.

By Aug. 12 the buyer was dead. A woman found him face down and unresponsive on a bathroom floor. An officer noted a blue vape pen and foil with burn marks. The coroner's finding, once toxicology returned, was accidental death from fentanyl and methamphetamine toxicity.

This week Allen County charged Combs, 25, with dealing in a controlled substance resulting in death and dealing in a narcotic drug — a package that carries a combined potential of up to 52 years in prison, WPTA reported, citing the case file. He is being held at the Allen County Jail. An initial hearing had not been set as of midday Thursday, Sept. 24.

Police rebuilt the timeline from the dead man's phone. Texts from the day before his death pointed to Combs's number. After toxicology confirmed fentanyl in the victim's blood earlier this month, officers returned to the Coliseum Inn with a search warrant and, court papers allege, found Combs with suspected drug paraphernalia.

Combs's girlfriend told investigators he used fentanyl himself and sold controlled substances from the motel to support that habit, according to the same court records. Combs did not admit selling the fatal dose to the victim, WPTA reported; he did tell police he sold the drug to fund his own use.

None of that has been tested at trial. Dealing resulting in death is among Indiana's hardest narcotics counts precisely because a single sale can end a life — but a charge is still an accusation. Combs is presumed innocent unless and until a jury or a plea says otherwise.

Fort Wayne has spent years burying young adults killed by street fentanyl while dealers treat a tenth of a gram like inventory. A pawn-shop handoff, a "knockout" text, and a motel room are the kind of ordinary commerce that keeps the body count climbing until someone in orange answers for it in open court.

Reporting based on WPTA 21Alive coverage of Allen County charging documents, Sept. 24, 2026: Fort Wayne man accused of giving man fentanyl in deadly overdose.

Written by Hoosiers, for Hoosiers.