KEENE, N.H. — Two defendants were held without bail Wednesday afternoon on a variety of charges, including human trafficking, in connection with the death of Justina Steffy, the 31-year-old New Hampshire woman whose body was found in Warwick in October after she went missing weeks earlier.

Andrea Martin, 42, and Christian Torruellas, 32, both of Keene, will remain incarcerated at least until a probable cause hearing slated for Feb. 19, 8th Circuit Court Judge Patrick Ryan ruled. Neither defendant entered a plea.

Martin is being charged with dispensing a controlled drug resulting in death and falsifying physical evidence. Both suspects have been charged with kidnapping and with human trafficking, with Martin facing an additional kidnapping charge.

Police discovered Steffy’s body on Oct. 23, and an autopsy conducted by the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled her death to be a homicide through the injection of narcotics by others, with the cause of death listed as the combined toxic effects of fentanyl, 4-ANPP and xylazine.

Keene Police allege that Steffy died from a drug overdose inside a residence in Keene on Oct. 13, 2024, before her body was left in Warwick. The state alleges that Martin and Torruellas worked in concert with one another to supply Steffy with the lethal drugs.

“It is alleged that Andrea Martin, in concert with and aided by another, knowingly sold, or dispensed to Justina Steffy, a controlled drug, said substance containing fentanyl ... and Justina Steffy died as a result of the injection or ingestion of that substance,” Attorney General John Formella wrote in a statement. “Martin is also charged with one count of falsifying physical evidence ... in connection with the removal of Justina Steffy’s body from Keene and subsequent disposal in Massachusetts.”

The state is also charging Martin and Torruellas with kidnapping and human trafficking, as investigators allege that they, from about Oct. 1 to Oct. 17, “knowingly confined an adult female under their control with a purpose to terrorize that person.”

Investigators also allege that Martin and Torruellas, from about Oct. 1 to Oct. 17, compelled another adult victim, whose name has not yet been released, against his or her will to “perform a service or labor for the benefit of another.” According to investigators, “compulsion was accomplished by causing or threatening to cause serious harm to that person, confining them unlawfully by means of actual and threatened use of force, [and] threatening to commit crimes against that person.”

In court on Wednesday afternoon, Senior Assistant Attorney General Peter Hinckley addressed Ryan and argued against the defendants’ eligibility for bail due to the severity of the case and the charge of providing illegal drugs, resulting in death.

Defense attorney Don Topham, who represented Martin, argued that the court should determine bail after a hearing, rather than before.

“[Martin] is a longtime Keene resident. I haven’t seen anything about her criminal history — I don’t know if the court has — but I can’t address that at this time. She has a 17-year-old pregnant daughter who she cares for. She has full-time employment at [Kentucky Fried Chicken],” Topham said. “The way that I read these charges, they stem from October of last year, so there’s [an extended period] where she has not been incarcerated, walking around with no opposition. … Suddenly, overnight, the state believes she needs to be held. I think they have to justify that.”

Ryan ruled that Torruellas, who had already been incarcerated on unrelated federal charges, remain jailed on preventive detention until the Feb. 19 probable cause hearing.

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.