Posted: 2/7/2006 1:49:00 PM EDT
This was a very good friend of mine's son that died. 05:38 PM PST on Monday, February 6, 2006
By PAUL AKER / KING 5 News
ROCHESTER, Wash. – In Rochester, news that a teenager is dead from a cocktail of beer and prescription drugs, has shaken the little Thurston County neighborhood.
Chad Newton and James Challender were charged with homicide resulting from delivery of a controlled substance.
"Very sad, very unfortunate. He had his whole life to go," said Rachael Smith, a family friend.
Police say that 18-year-old Earl Tyler Stone and others were drinking at a Centralia home, but then Stone got his hands on more than beer.
Detectives say he also took prescription drugs, including liquid methadone, a powerful narcotic usually used to treat heroin addicts.
According to police, Chad Newton and James Challender supplied the high school senior with the methadone that killed him on Friday. Prosecutors charged them with homicide resulting from delivery of a controlled substance.
Newton's parents said their hearts go out to the victim's family.
"Chad and Tyler were really good friends. I know neither one of them wanted this to happened and it's a really horrible thing," said Traci Newton, the defendant's mother.
Centralia Police say a warning should go out to everyone else. Detectives say cases like this are getting more common. They've seen a trend in so-called pharming, which is mixing alcohol and pharmaceutical drugs.
"I would say as parents, monitor your prescription in the home, maybe take a few other steps to secure them in the home and keep track of them," said Detective Steve Burress, Centralia Police.
The two men charged in the case are each being held on $50,000 bail.
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