The Magical Morphing Morphine Bottle
There was an empty or nearly empty morphine bottle in my studio on June 3,2003. Marion and I had gone to Roanoke six days prior to pick up a load of furniture and assorted other items from my mother's house. My mother had died at the end of April 2003 and I was an executor of her estate. My brother had put a large quantity of OTC medications and some remnants of prescription medications in a box and e-mailed me to take and dispose of them. We brought this box to my studio and put the medications in drawers for safe keeping until I could decide what to do with them. The morphine bottle and some others were put into a locked storage chest where I stored lenses, filters, flash accessories, etc.
After Marion was taken to the hospital June 3, I noticed that the chest was unlocked and one drawer partially open. I do not know if I left it open when I got a flash cord or .someone opened it later. I kept my key ring in my pants pocket, and the key to the chest was on that ring.
The officer who answered my 91 1 call first was David Trail. He made detailed notes that night. He says I gave him the morphine bottle shortly after he arrived and told him Marion might have taken what was in it. Trail says he gave the bottle to EMS worker Jeff Harless. Trail remembers the bottle as empty.
Jeff Harless testified that Trail did not give him any bottle. but vaguely remembers that one was found.
EMS worker Charles Cofelt testified that I gave him the bottle and that he carried it to the hospital and gave it to Dr. Robert Harvey. He says the bottle was empty and had no top. Dr. Harvey has no recollection at all of any bottle.
Watson Edwards, the charge nurse at the ER that night remembers a bottle and says he last saw it on a stand in the room with Marion, with several people around.
Hospital employee Sabrina Martin saw a large amber bottle with a lid on it and remembers Dr. Harvey giving it to Charles Cofelt, who then gave it to her. She then gave it to David Trail who took it to the Police Department.
Detective Wilburn at the Police Department logged the bottle into the property room nine days later, describing it as empty.
Ann Donovan, RN, who took care of my mother, said the bottle was white.
Dick McGarry, retired toxicologist with 16 years experience working for the Virginia Department of Forensic Science laboratory, said that liquid morphine is a clear to pale greenish color. When the bottle in question reached the state lab for analysis, it was found to contain about 2 milliliters of orange colored liquid. In a qualitative test, this liquid tested positive for morphine.
Rob Oliver, the man who was supplying Marion with drugs, testified that she was using heroin. The toxicology test done by the state lab is not capable of distinguishing morphine from heroin, or any other opiate.
Sue Coutts testified that she saw me put some pink liquid from a dropper bottle in Marion's wine glass, and later gave her some when she asked for "some of what Marion had." She testified that it had no effect on her whatsoever.
So what was going on here? Did I give Marion and Sue morphine?
Actually, there were two amber dropper bottles in the studio that day. One was the empty or nearly empty morphine bottle from my mother. The other was liquid Echinacea from a health food store. This is where all the confusion about the bottle arises - there were two bottles.
My doctor, Dr. Robert Solomon, testified at my trial that he had told me to give Marion Echinacea to help combat her frequent sinus infections. I'd been giving it to her for several weeks. She was suffering from sinus trouble that day and asked me for some, and I gave it to her in front of Sue. Later I gave Sue a few drops when she asked for it. If I'd given Sue morphine, she certainly would have had some reaction to it. She had none.
What is the orange liquid in the morphine bottle? There is·no way to know what it is or who put it in there, but it is absolutely certain that it was not the remnant of the original prescription.
Would the small amount of liquid morphine in the bottle when we picked it up from my mother's house be enough to account for the massive blood level in the toxicology report? Absolutely not, nor would it have been a fatal dose.
Was the toxicology report accurate? Since all autopsy samples were destroyed before my independent lab tests could be done, we will never know. Labs do make mistakes, all labs. The lab report showed an anomalous result in that it shows a high level of Destromethorphan. No attempt was ever made by the police or prosecution to explain that. No attempt was made to track down the drug dealer that Rob Oliver said he bought his drugs from. When Oliver refused to give the police any information on the man other than the name "DJ" they made no effort to get more specific information from him. Why?
There are more questions than answers in the official "investigation."