Autopsy reports hint at illegal drug use

Preliminary autopsy reports indicate heroin and cocaine were a factor in the death of LSA sophomore Chris Giacherio last Tuesday, Ann Arbor Police Department Lieutenant Jim Tieman said.

"The preliminary results are consistent to a drug overdose," Tieman said. The information collected by AAPD in its investigation matches the preliminary tests, Tieman said.

Giacherio was found mid-morning last Tuesday at the home of a friend at 909 Packard St. in an unresponsive state. Medical personnel who arrived in response to a 911 call could not revive Giacherio, who was pronounced dead that morning.

Giacherio

"We believe those drugs (heroin and cocaine) were used prior to his death," Tieman said. Officials believe Giacherio ingested the drugs within 24 hours of his death.

Toxicology reports should be finished today and "at that point the medical examiner will put an exact cause" on Giacherio's death, Tieman said.

Tieman said Friday that investigators were still interviewing people who were with him last and it is still not clear whether or not he was alone at the time of his death.

Mourners attended a formal service Friday evening for Giacherio at Muehlig Funeral Chapel in Ann Arbor.

Family and friends of Giacherio, including University President Lee Bollinger, crowded hallways and sat on the floor as they listened to Father James McDougal of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church give Giacherio's eulogy. During the eulogy loved ones shared memories of Giacherio.

Heather Jerue, who graduated from Pioneer High School with Giacherio, recalled Giacherio's warm personality.

"Chris and I started our first day of kindergarten together," Jerue said. "I know there are people here who know him better than I did but I know that he had this ability to speak to and communicate with such a broad range of people and all of us could see it if he was here tonight."

Speakers included one of Giacherio's high school teachers, fellow Pioneer graduates, classmates and other friends who shared stories of Giacherio's childhood, softball teams and more recent interests including his employment at Grizzly Peak Brewing Company on West Washington Street.

McDougal spoke of his recent conversation with Giacherio about comic books.

"The other day when we were talking, one of the things that especially stuck in my head was that we talked about comic books," McDougal said. "The comic books that he loved to collect so dearly and look through."

McDougal also spoke about how Giacherio's friends and family could lend emotional support to each other.

"We live in a world that has life and death. Where people die and are taken away from us," McDougal said. "We are here to see a deeper reality and that reality is the fact that we are here first of all to support one and other ... We're here as a community. To say especially to you the family that you do not suffer in this alone. That we care for you."

"Each us of comes here because in one way or another we have known Chris, or his sisters or his mom and dad ... We remember the way he touched us," McDougal said.

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