CLOVERDALE WOMAN CHARGED IN TEEN'S DEATH

Authorities Say She Sold Him Drugs

About 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 26, Sandra Warden noticed her only child, Brian
Kristofer Osborne, was asleep and snoring when she went into his bedroom to
retrieve some dirty dishes.

Less than two hours later when she went to wake him up, Warden could not
revive Brian, 17.

The teenager's death was the basis of a murder indictment Monday against a
23-year-old neighbor authorities accuse of supplying Osborne with Lortab,
the prescription painkiller that killed him.

Botetourt County sheriff's deputies arrested Melanie Deanna Benzenhafer of
Cloverdale on Monday within hours after a grand jury indicted her on
charges of second-degree felony murder and drug distribution. She was being
held Monday night in the Botetourt County jail.

Authorities allege that Benzenhafer sold the teenager Lortab, a widely
prescribed drug that has an active ingredient similar to but less powerful
than the narcotic in the notorious painkiller OxyContin.

This is the first time Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom has sought a
felony murder charge in a drug-distribution case. State law allows such a
charge when authorities believe a drug seller is responsible for a death,
Branscom said. In this case, an adult distributed a drug to a juvenile, he
added.

Warden said she and her family knew Benzenhafer, but that until Monday she
had no idea her neighbor might be implicated in Brian's death. The two
women had talked awhile when Benzenhafer was having marital problems,
Warden said.

The night before Brian died, a friend had spent the night with him, Warden
said. The boys had stayed up until after 4 a.m. watching TV and playing
video games. So on Saturday, she decided to let her son sleep in.

The friend left Warden's home shortly after she visited the bedroom to
retrieve the dishes. He asked her if she wanted him to wake up Brian, but
she said no. But as 3 p.m. rolled around, she decided to check on her son.

According to the Botetourt sheriff's department, when officers and
Troutville Rescue Squad members arrived at Warden's home, they found Warden
on the telephone with a 911 dispatcher, preparing to give her son
cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The squad attempted to revive him, but he
was pronounced dead at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Chief Deputy Delbert Dudding said authorities suspected foul play early in
their investigation. But he declined to elaborate on what led police to
suspect Benzenhafer. Warden said an autopsy revealed drugs led to her son's
death.

Warden said more than 300 people attended the visitation prior to Brian's
funeral. Many of them talked about his encouraging them not to do anything
to excess, she said.

Although he had dropped out of high school, Osborne had earned his General
Educational Development degree and liked writing poetry and adding extra
lyrics to songs, she said.

"He had a compassion for others," his mother said.