Suspected OD Claims Athlete, Teen's Girlfriend Clings to Life
A star athlete at Malden Catholic High School is dead and his teenage girlfriend was on life support last night after suspected drug overdoses this weekend, investigators and the girl's family said.
John Woods, 17, was pronounced dead Saturday morning at his Charlestown home after paramedics tried to revive him, authorities said. The 17-year-old Charlestown girl, a student at Matignon High School in Cambridge, was rushed from her nearby home to Massachusetts General Hospital a short time later.
"I just want people to know this stuff is killing kids. There's not going to be anyone born in the '80s anymore,'' said one of the girl's relatives, who wished to remain anonymous. “They need to know if they do this stuff they die.'' The pair, who the relative said had not been involved in illegal drug use previously, were both home by 11 Friday night and went to bed. Neither woke up, he added.
Doctors told the girl's family a combination of OxyContin and another drug shut down her heart, the relative said.“She's clinging to life by a thread,'' he said. “The doctors said it's in God's hands now.''
The family is no stranger to tragedy. Cancer killed the girl's mother 10 years ago, he said. Dave Procopio, spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, said Woods' death and the girl's injuries may be drug-related."The suspected overdoses are under investigation by the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office and Boston police,'' said Procopio. “We are awaiting toxicology reports and autopsy results.''
Friends who gathered at a massive memorial for Woods in Doherty Park yesterday remembered him as a talented athlete loved by all who knew him. "Everybody's good friends with him,'' said one pal. “He was a great athlete and funny.''Woods was a goalie for Malden Catholic's hockey team and also played varsity lacrosse. He was named a league all-star in hockey by the Catholic Conference.
Bouquets of flowers, chocolate Easter bunnies, candles, more than a dozen framed photos of Woods, a package of Junior Mints and a school project using the lyrics of U2 songs were displayed under a wooden canopy made to keep out the rain. A banner at the base of the memorial reads, "Rest in peace John. We love you.'' Family members who visited the memorial declined to comment.
According to police incident reports, officers were called to a Martin Street home in Charlestown at 9:18 a.m. Saturday for a report of cardiac arrest. Firefighters said they found the victim, later identified as Woods, with no pulse or heartbeat. They performed CPR with no results and he was declared dead at 9:32 a.m.
Eighteen minutes later that same morning, police were called to a Pearl Street home for a report of an unconscious female. Malden Catholic Headmaster Brother Robert J. Green said two prayer services were held for Woods at the school yesterday, one during the day for the senior class and one after school.
"One hundred and fifty students and faculty came after school on their own time and said the rosary, not for John, but for John's mother,'' Green said. The school is making buses available for students to attend Wood's wake tomorrow. The funeral is Thursday at St. Francis De Sales in Charlestown.
The tragedy comes on the heels of a Herald investigation into opiate overdoses among teenagers reaching epidemic proportions in Massachusetts. Fatal opiate overdoses by 15- to 24-year-olds tripled from 1998 to 2001, skyrocketing from 17 to 54 deaths in that time. Opiate-related hospitalizations, mostly from heroin and OxyContin, have more than doubled from 1,174 to 2,532 in the same age range, according to the state Department of Public Health.
