LISLE TEEN'S DEATH CAUSED BY OVERDOSE OF HEROIN, JURY SAYS

A 16-year-old from Lisle found dead in his parents' home in February
apparently died of a heroin overdose just days before he was to be
placed in a Minnesota rehabilitation center.

At an inquest into the Feb. 20 death, Lisle police Detective Scott
Mayerhofer told a DuPage County coroner's jury Tuesday that his
investigation revealed that the teen sneaked out of the home late Feb.
19 and used heroin with friends.

"Heroin was obtained that night and heroin was used that night," said
Mayerhofer. "And after that, (the teen) had gone home."

He also testified that the teen's left arm had a fresh injection mark
when the body was discovered.

After weighing Mayerhofer's testimony and the findings of a forensic
pathologist with the coroner's office, the jury concluded that the
teen "came to his death by opiate intoxication."

Pathologist Jeff Harkey had made the same finding in a report read to
the jury by a deputy coroner. The heroin in the teen's body broke down
quickly and appeared in his blood as morphine at a level on the "low
end of the lethal range," but in amounts known to have been fatal in
other cases, Harkey determined.

The jury's finding apparently signals a realization of the worst fears
of area law enforcement officials, who for more than a year have
warned of teens abusing heroin in the Naperville area.

Naperville police in February said they were concerned that the youth
had lost his life to the first fatal overdose involving a student
still in the Naperville school system. He had been in and out of
treatment for addiction.

Some high-school age students from Lisle attend Naperville
schools.

Before Mayerhofer was called to the stand, a statement from the teen's
parents was read to the jury. The couple attended the inquest, but
declined to comment on the case.

Deputy Coroner Charles Dastych read the statement, which came in the
form of a letter to the couple's attorney.

In it, the teen's parents sought to make it clear that they believed
their son did not intentionally take a fatal dose of narcotics. The
youth had been seeing a psychiatrist, and there was "nothing to
indicate he was unusually depressed or despondent," they wrote.

The couple indicated that the last time they were aware the teen had
used heroin was Feb. 14, and that he had been going through withdrawal
at home that week. He was to enter a treatment center in Minneapolis
the week of Feb. 22.

"He was excited about going to rehab this time," the statement read.
"He was ready."

The parents also called for the books on the case to remain open, and
for Lisle police to consider foul play in the death. The letter
speculated that the teen's decision to end his use of the drug could
have led the teen's supplier to give him heroin of lethal quantity to
ensure the youth's silence.

Mayerhofer said the case remains open, but police have found nothing
that points to foul play.

The toxicology report stated that Valium also was found in the teen's
blood. The parents said he was taking that drug to relieve withdrawal
symptoms. The youth also was taking medication for hay fever.

Though the coroner's jury concluded that the death was drug-related,
the official cause will remain undetermined because an accidental
overdose does not fit into any prescribed classification for unnatural
death in DuPage County.