MANALAPAN — Toxicology tests have confirmed that the cause of death of an 18-year-old township resident on June 2 was an overdose of heroin, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor.
Prosecutor John Kaye said the death of Michael Chierchia, who was found dead early June 2 at a Coventry Court residence in the bedroom of a 16-year-old friend after a night of partying, died from "acute intoxication due to the toxic effects of heroin."
Investigators determined that the teenager’s fatal bout with heroin began sometime around 11 p.m. June 1, according to the prosecutor’s office.
About that time, Kaye said, it is believed that Chierchia snorted a line of heroin using a straw and the top of a compact disc jewel box. Kaye said the teenager was found dead in his friend’s bedroom after a night of partying with a group of high school students.
Earlier on the night of June 1, some of the youngsters present were smoking "blunts," or cigars hollowed out and filled with marijuana, Kaye said.
When some of the teenagers attempted to wake up Chierchia early on the morning of June 2 and he was unresponsive, Manalapan police were called and quickly responded, according to Kaye.
The prosecutor said drug paraphernalia and an unspecified amount of what was believed at the time to be marijuana and heroin were found in the house. Kaye said it was alleged that Chierchia had used one bag of heroin.
At the time, it was the second Mon-mouth County death in less than two weeks attributed to a heroin overdose. Drug charges were lodged against a 17-year-old boy from Middletown after results of a toxicology test confirmed that the cause of death of an 18-year-old Mid-dletown resident was an overdose of heroin, according to Assistant Prosecutor Peter Warshaw.
On the morning of May 22, Middle-town South High School senior Geoffrey P. Edwards Jr. was found dead in his bedroom after allegedly ingesting heroin with a friend the night before, according to the prosecutor’s office.