Aug 28, 2009 12:01 am US/Pacific
Family Questions Reasons For Orinda Teen's Death
ORINDA (CBS 5) ―
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Joseph Loudon, the 16-year old Orinda resident who was found dead at a house party.
CBS
Police investigating the death of an Orinda teen say they have done everything they could" and have turned the case over to the Contra Costa District Attorney's office. In a press release Thursday afternoon, police said a fourth individual will be charged in connection with alcohol having been provided to underage teens. But they said there's no evidence that the death of 16-year-old Joseph Loudon back in May was criminal.
But Joseph Loudon's family doesn't agree. "We want to solve this mystery. We want to find out how he died," said Tom Payne, who is Loudon's uncle.
Loudon grew up in the tight-knit East Bay community of Orinda and Payne says his nephew, whom the family called "Little Joe" loved living there.
"(Joe) would talk about how this was the best place in the world," said Payne.
Loudon was active in the Boy Scouts, a local church and played on the Miramonte High School varsity football team even though he was a sophomore.
In May, Loudon attended a house party just down the street from his own home, where teammates and friends were apparently drinking. Police have arrested 4 individuals in connection with the party and alcohol being served to minors.
His uncle said early the next morning, a family member called with the news of Loudon's death.
"He said there's been a tragedy over in Orinda. Little Joe has died. He died," Payne remembers.
"It was just all beyond the range of anything we could think of."
Payne said the family was told that Loudon had been drinking and had choked on his own vomit. But he says the family trusted that Orinda police would be investigating and expected to hear more specific information as to the cause and manner of Loudon's death.
Since May, new details emerged that convince Payne and his sister, Joe's mother Marianne Payne, that the circumstances surrounding Loudon's death have not fully come to light.
For example, they note that in the hours after his death, someone altered Loudon's Facebook page, deleting information and "sanitizing" it, according to Payne. He also points out that Loudon's iPhone went missing that night and yet someone had used it throughout the evening until a last 'data transfer' at approximately 4 a.m.
A medical examiner's autopsy also showed that Loudon actually had very little alcohol in his body after death, a level what one expert told CBS 5 Investigates would constitute "barely a drink". But the autopsy showed an uncommon drug in Loudon's system, a prescription medication called Papaverine, that experts say is rarely used because doctors have better and newer drugs.
And experts say they have not heard of anyone abusing the drug, which was designed to treat problems involving blood flow, including, in its injectable form, erectile dysfunction in men.
"I have not heard of any recreational use for it," said Dr. Steve Kayser, a professor of Clinical Pharmacy at UCSF. "It wouldn't be something that would to me seem to be high on anyone's list to try."
A private investigator hired by the Payne family told CBS 5 Investigates there may be another reason for drugs to have been found at the party.
Investigator Mike Mahoney said his interviews with teenagers who were present at the party that night suggest some teens might have been doing something called "medicine cabinet shopping"; literally "shopping" their parents' medicine cabinets, then sharing the various pills.
"Pass it all up, pass it out. It's take one of these and see what happens," said Mahoney, who worked as an officer and homicide detective for the San Francisco Police Department.
Mahoney said he doesn't believe Loudon would have taken pills willingly, however.
When CBS 5 Investigates asked whether someone may have slipped Loudon the drug as a possible prank, he responded, "Possibly, maybe, that is where I am at."
Mahoney says many teens have been helpful and forthcoming but some families have hired lawyers and refuse to talk.
Others' recollections appear to differ. "In some instances I have kids tell me from their perspective what happened, and I know it's a lie," said Mahoney. Why? "Because all the other people that were also present at the time are telling me stories that are 180 percent different," he said.
But Loudon's uncle believes that out there somewhere, there's a teenager who holds the answer to the mystery of Loudon's death.
"We are one kid away from knowing the answer," said Payne.
To that one potential teenage witness, Payne says, please speak up, "for Joe."
"Speak now, because this is going to be around the rest of your life. And we're going to be wondering. You know. Do the right thing."
"Our greatest frustration," said Orinda Police Chief Bill French, "is that there are individuals who may have knowledge about the circumstances surrounding the papaverine, yet no one is talking."
The party in May took place at the home of the Gabrielli family in Orinda; through their lawyer, the family declined to comment for this story.
Police have arrested 18-year-old Patrick Gabrielli on suspicion of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and furnishing alcohol to a person under 21 years old.
They announced this week that similar charges will be sought against his sister, Alexandra Gabrielli, 19. A 16-year-old boy was also arrested for allegedly furnishing alcohol to a minor.
During the investigation, police discovered that several students at Miramonte High School, which Loudon attended, had fake ID cards.
Investigators were told that 22-year-old Rohnert Park resident Robert Martin Scott had provided the teenagers with the forged driver's licenses.
When investigators went to arrest Scott, they allegedly found about 100 fake licenses in his home, police said.
Scott was arrested for forgery and identity theft, and has also been federally indicted for manufacturing and distributing counterfeit government identification cards, according to police.
Anyone with information on the case is encouraged to contact the Orinda Police Department at (925) 284-5010.
Correction:
On our 10pm newscast KPIX reported that Alexandra Gabrielli was arrested in connection with the death of Joseph Loudon. Alexandra's attorney says she was not arrested and, despite a press release to that effect issued by the Orinda Police Department on Thursday, the District Attorney has not filed charges against her.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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