Autopsy results on two OU students shows heroin, alcohol cause of deaths

By Jim Phillips
Athens NEWS Senior Writer
July 21, 2008
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Autopsy reports released Friday confirmed that two college students found dead in an Athens apartment bathtub in May died from a drug/alcohol overdose.

The autopsy reports on Hocking College student Christopher A. Theil and his girlfriend, Ohio University student Kelly P. Armbruster, lists the cause of death for each as “acute heroin and alcohol intoxication.” Both were 22 years old.

In the autopsy findings, the Montgomery County Coroner’s office also noted that both of the bodies displayed “severe pulmonary edema” (fluid in the lungs), and that drug paraphernalia was found at the scene of their death.

Authorities were called to the Riverpark Towers apartment complex early on the morning of May 3, by a 911 call from Theil’s mother, who was visiting for OU Moms Weekend.

She told the dispatcher that she had just “pulled my son and his girlfriend out of the bathtub,” and that both appeared to be dead.

Both Theil and Armbruster were from the Columbus area, Theil from Dublin and Armbruster from Powell, and both had attended the same high school.

Toxicology reports found that Theil had apparently consumed marijuana, Xanax (a prescription anti-anxiety drug), alcohol and opiates before his death.

The drug screen on Armbruster turned up alcohol, marijuana metabolytes, benzodiazepenes (anti-anxiety medications such as Xanax) and opiates, according to the report. The heroin reference in the autopsy report evidently relates to the opiates listed in the drug screen.

Early on, authorities apparently ruled out any foul play in the couple’s death, and suggested that drugs were probably the cause.

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