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| Karen de la Carriere with Alexander Jentzsch at his wedding to Andrea Evans |
I talked earlier today to Ed Winter, assistant chief coroner of Los Angeles County, who tells me that he's ruling Alexander Jentzsch's death an accident.
The 27-year-old son of Scientology president Heber Jentzsch was found dead on the morning of July 3 at the home of his in-laws. Winter has now determined that Alexander was suffering from pneumonia while he was on a prescription of methadone. His injury was "drug intake," Winter says, and "final mode" of death an accident.
"What you're telling me sounds like an accidental drug overdose while he was very sick," I said to Winter.
"That's what I'm telling you," he answered.
Karen de la Carriere, Alexander's mother, tells me that Winter is not done investigating.
"They don't even have all the reports back yet. And they're looking at that methadone prescription," she tells me.
She points out that a healthy 27-year-old is not likely to die from pneumonia. And if he was following his methadone prescription -- and so far there's no indication that he didn't -- that also should not have been lethal.
It's the combination that killed Alexander Jentzsch.
The son of the president of the Church of Scientology International, cut off by the church from both of his parents, was taking methadone while he had serious pneumonia rather than antibiotics. And that doesn't look good.
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