DRUGS MAY HAVE BEEN MAJOR FACTOR IN DEATH FOR FORMER COWBOYS STAR

Former Dallas Cowboys star Mark Tuinei used the drug Ecstasy and
apparently took heroin the night before he died last week, a team
player told police.

Tuinei, 39, who helped lead Dallas to three Super Bowl titles, died
Thursday after a friend found him unconscious in his car outside his
Plano, Texas, home.

Court documents state Cowboys running back Nicky Sualua said he spent
Wednesday evening with Tuinei. Sualua said he and Tuinei went to a
Dallas apartment to get heroin.

"When Mark came back to the living room, he looked as if he was
passing out. Nicky advised (that) Mark started having problems and
stopped breathing," the court affidavit said.

Sualua said he performed CPR, and Tuinei was alive when he dragged the
6-foot-5, 320-pound ex-offensive lineman to his car. Sualua said he
drove to Tuinei's house, got two blankets and they slept in the car
until about 5:30 a.m.

"When Nicky woke up, Mark was not breathing," said the
document.

Sualua also said Tuinei used Ecstasy, a stimulant, at Tuinei's house
Wednesday evening, according to the Collin County Court document.

Tuinei, who retired in 1997, was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Further toxicology tests were expected today.