AL - Paighton Houston, 29, left bar with 2 men, Birmingham, 20 Dec 2019 *arrests* #6

[Seattle1]

Okay, I guess I'll say it in reverse and more clearly. If the concentration found in the examination is less than some number, for example LC50 (lethal concentration for 50% of test subjects) a medical examiner can safely report that the overdose was accidental since when someone is trying to intentionally kill themselves or someone else they're going to administer enough to definitely kill.

That having been said, it is only the medical examiner's job to make a finding of the cause and manner of death. "Accidental" does not imply she administered the drugs to herself nor does it imply someone administered them to her, it's only a conclusion that whoever administered it likely did not intend for it to kill her. Accidental.

I disagree in part because it seems to me that the manner of death appears to be "accidental" and not "homicide" -- the more likely manner if she was believed drugged by others with the intent to cause harm or death.

Was there a presser after the capture of the suspect and COD released?

MOO

ETA: manner of death reported as accident and cause of death is morphine and methamphetamine toxicity i.e., opiod drug death.

 

[PhineasC]

Ok. Now, after hopefully having my previous post removed, and again, my apologies for not being able to provide a link, I would like to go on the record with my opinion (for what it is worth LOL).
There are things that just do not jive with me. Many things. There were more actors in this play. The whole story has not come out yet. I do not have “proof” of my sixth sense that I inherited from my grandmother, and I imagine that not everyone is a believer in that anyway (like my husband of 24 years, even though he has witnessed it in action!). I do not claim to “know”, I just have a feeling. I know a lot about addiction, but I do not believe that Paighton willingly took the speedball. I believe she was held down and someone else gave it to her. We may never find out any more of the details about that night. I hope we do.

This just doesn't make any sense. A speedball is not a date rape drug. It makes the person who partakes a hot mess, to put it mildly. There doesn't seem to be any reason to "force" someone to inject such a drug cocktail. I realize we all want to believe that sweet beautiful PH who was so full of life and optimistic about her future would never relapse into the same heavy drug use that almost killed her a couple of years ago, but really that's the obvious answer here.

 

[Seattle1]

"Yates concluded the cause of death as a morphine and methamphetamine toxicity and ruled the death to be accidental. This represents an overdose and is classified as a drug-opioid death."

I think it's very clear now: manner of death is accidental and the cause of death is morphine and methamphetamine toxicity (drug -opiod death).

PH's manner of death is not pending or undetermined. Her death is not ruled a homicide.

 

[PhineasC]

I think it's very clear now: manner of death is accidental and the cause of death is morphine and methamphetamine toxicity (drug -opiod death).

PH's manner of death is not pending or undetermined. Her death is not ruled a homicide.

I agree. She overdosed on a volatile drug cocktail. Speedballs have been killing people for a long time. It's a pretty common way to OD. FH panicked and rushed to bury her body because he already has a criminal record and figured he'd be blamed for this. He will pay for that crime, but he didn't murder PH.

 

[momrids6]

We don't know who supplied the drugs. Whomever did can be charged with murder

 

[Zella]

I agree. She overdosed on a volatile drug cocktail. Speedballs have been killing people for a long time. It's a pretty common way to OD. FH panicked and rushed to bury her body because he already has a criminal record and figured he'd be blamed for this. He will pay for that crime, but he didn't murder PH.

Yeah John Belushi and Chris Farley both overdosed on speedballs, though with cocaine rather than meth.

I really don't see any reason to suspect that she was forced to take a speedball.

 

[Seattle1]

We don't know who supplied the drugs. Whomever did can be charged with murder

True. However, given that investigators were on FH's trail not less than a week after PH's death, and the conclusion that PH's manner and cause of death known, I don't believe there is evidence leading to FH as the supplier of the illicit drugs. I believe FH's charges certainly would have been upgraded by today if true. Not to say that another defendant won't be charged appropriately for supplying any illicit drugs that caused PH's death. MOO

 

[evilwise]

We don't know who supplied the drugs. Whomever did can be charged with murder

Yep, that's the thing. We're beginning to see laws to that effect enacted and enforced. I don't know if Alabama is one of those places or not. Seems like sort of a slippery slope to me but that's just one man's opinion.

 

[momrids6]

Yep, that's the thing. We're beginning to see laws to that effect enacted and enforced. I don't know if Alabama is one of those places or not. Seems like sort of a slippery slope to me but that's just one man's opinion.

Bama is one of those places

 

[Seattle1]

Paighton Houston death: Man who fled Alabama arrested in Ohio - CNN

Jan 30, 2020

(CNN)A man who police suspect disposed of the body of an Alabama woman who disappeared after leaving a Birmingham bar has been captured in Ohio, authorities said Thursday.

[..]

Paighton Houston, 29, was last seen December 20. Her body was found in a shallow grave behind a house in Hueytown, Alabama, just west of Birmingham, earlier this month, Trussville police Detective Ben Short has said.
She died from an accidental drug overdose, according to a news release Thursday from the Jefferson County Coroner.


She was visiting the Tin Roof bar in Birmingham the night she was last seen, her family says. Birmingham police have said she left the bar with two men, and appeared to be doing so willingly.

Task force officers forced their way into the home in Ohio where Hampton was found, but authorities say he surrendered without resisting.

 

[Seattle1]

Coroner: Paighton Houston died of accidental drug overdose

Jan 30, 2020

By Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com
Paighton Houston, the Trussville woman who disappeared from a Birmingham bar and was later found buried in the backyard of a Hueytown home, died of drug overdose, authorities announced Thursday morning.

The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office on Thursday listed the cause of death as morphine and methamphetamine toxicity. The manner of death is accidental. "This represents an overdose and is classified as a drug-opioid death,'' Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates wrote in his early-morning news release.

 

[PezCandy]

Just heard the news on FH capture and PH accidental overdose. It’s a shame.
I feel like a lot of people on this thread (which I know you guys mean well) don’t really quite understand that anyone in recovery can relapse and accidentally overdose on a whim, the text that we know PH sent is odd yes but it’s not uncommon especially as paranoia sets in or feeling off from the effect of the drug/drug combo. There has been people on this thread who’ve shared their addiction experiences and people who have first hand lost a loved one to drugs, they have had really insightful advice. My sons father/ex husband passed from an overdose, sent me an odd text in the middle of the night and I didn’t see it till I woke up, but I knew that he must have relapsed because it was out of character for him, I didn’t know he died till I tried calling him back later in the morning. The denial I went thru was terrible, then having to explain to my son that his father passed, the grief process is almost unbearable. My point being is that on the outside PH looked like she was doing well but we will never truly know how she was feeling on the inside. It’s going to take the Houston family some grieving time that’s for sure. Addiction is terrible and heartbreaking for everyone involved. Had FH been a decent human being and called the police or brought her to the hospital rather than putting her in a grave then running off things would have been much different. Everyone here has showed so much love and respect for PH I’m glad that her family knows that there are so many people who care. But I really don’t believe there is a conspiracy here. It’s a sad situation but at least we know what happened.
As usual imo jmo moo

 

[lindaromas]

I agree. She overdosed on a volatile drug cocktail. Speedballs have been killing people for a long time. It's a pretty common way to OD. FH panicked and rushed to bury her body because he already has a criminal record and figured he'd be blamed for this. He will pay for that crime, but he didn't murder PH.

BBM Why would he chose to bury her at a family members home that would tie him to this?

 

[Seattle1]

BBM Why would he chose to bury her at a family members home that would tie him to this?

It's not unusual whatsoever for the suspect to hide or bury a body at a location familiar to them. Just this last year there was Savannah Spurlock's alleged murderer - he buried her on his parent's property; and the Uber driver that allegedly murdered Sammantha Josephson-- he drove nearly 2 hours to his hometown to dispose of her body in his neighborhood. Nope -- no surprise at all.

 

[evilwise]

BBM Why would he chose to bury her at a family members home that would tie him to this?

Because he's dumb. That's why most people do most of the things they do.

 

[katydid23]

I guess it's hard to believe because based on all I've read about her, it seems rather out of her character to be alone, partying with complete strangers (assuming they were, that is). I know drug addicts tend to do things that shock even those closest to them, but PH was clean and seemed determined to stay that way. Something just seems to be missing.

Witnesses saw her leaving with the 2 men voluntarily. So she did plan to go somewhere with them.

And if she was clean and determined to stay that way, I don't think she would have gone to a bar, without sober friends to be with her. You cannot go to a bar at night and not feel tempted, when you are newly sober. That's why you need sober friends to assist you, imo.

 

[thesaint]

PH wouldn't necessarily have to have injected either drug. Meth is more often snorted or smoked than injected. Injecting meth is pretty hard-core. Morphine, at least what I've seen on the street, is often in a pill form. And can be taken orally or crushed up and snorted or smoked ( i suppose) or dissolved and cooked up and injected. The most common sequence of administration is someone feeling too sedate/doped up from opiates railing a few lines of speed for energy, or smoking rock cocaine.

Given how difficult it is for someone to tap a vein and inject themselves, it'd be a bit of a trick for someone to forcibly inject a needle in a vein of a conscious person able to squirm even a little. Other administration routes are equally difficult to force on a resisting person. Given PH's history and the context, I don't think anyone had to force any substances on her once she was in the presence of the drugs. Probably she had already set her mind to partaking when she left the bar.

Sounds like even tho she had meth in her system the COD was attributed to the opiods, which I think is different than the acute death onset caused by a classic speedball. That is, it's possible PH could've been saved had someone administrated Narcan or taken her to the ER.

 

[katydid23]

Let me get this straight, she's sitting in this house smoking weed, having drinks, preparing a mixture of heroin and cocaine, and she suddenly decides to text that she was in trouble and didn't know he people she was with? Come on.

As a woman, who almost got in similar trouble in my wild years, YES...sounds possible.

You leave with your 'new friends' because they seem chill and you are going to their house to smoke some weed, and things seem fine. And it is good for awhile. But after smoking and drinking with them, attitudes can change. And other people may show up, and then you start to feel uncomfortable...

Maybe things were fine at first, but they were all waiting for the hard drugs to arrive? And maybe, while waiting for those people to show up, she became concerned? Sent the text....

 

[katydid23]

Sorry, didn't see that. But isn't a speedball coke and heroin? It was back in the day anyway.

What is a Speedball? What Are the Dangers? - Greenhouse Treatment Center
The term speedball is commonly applied to any combination of two different drug types: an opioid and a stimulant.2 The classic “speedball” is specifically heroin and cocaine1—both potent, illicit drugs that are risky on their own, let alone together.

Some people will concoct their own “speedballs” by substituting other drugs, with combinations that might include incorporate:2,3

• Methamphetamine or amphetamine as the stimulant (sometimes called “goof balls”).
• Opioid painkillers in place of heroin.

 

[ChuckInHouston]

This just doesn't make any sense. A speedball is not a date rape drug. It makes the person who partakes a hot mess, to put it mildly. There doesn't seem to be any reason to "force" someone to inject such a drug cocktail. I realize we all want to believe that sweet beautiful PH who was so full of life and optimistic about her future would never relapse into the same heavy drug use that almost killed her a couple of years ago, but really that's the obvious answer here.

Also, this was not necessarily the order in which the drugs were consumed. she could have been on opiates then later taken speed, or been on speed and later taken opiates to come down, which is a pattern for many speed users. I've known people who would stay up doing coke, then drink a bottle of nyquil, then black out, and start all over the next day.
I don't at this point have any reason to believe drugs were forced upon her. I'm not sure why many have a hard time believing she may have just been using and it cost her life.
I don't believe there is any big conspiracy here. For those who have a hard time understanding why she would have left with FH, I think there are other factors a play. To each his/her own. He may have been her type. Maybe not, but at any rate, not so sure why anyone takes issue with her leaving with him. She may not have known his SO status. Then again, she may have and didn't care. Also, she was grown. Not a young adult, but grown. I have no doubt FH should be in prison. He will probably get minor time for this charge, but should never have been out in the first place. Regardless, other than the burial, I don't believe there was an alternate ending to PH's life.