On the night he apparently overdosed on heroin, Thomas “Ty” Boone Pickens IV was upset about his personal life and wanted an injection to help him sleep, according to a Fort Worth Police affidavit.
The affidavit, which details the events leading up to Pickens’ death, also revealed that Pickens was the second person since November to suffer a heroin overdose at the apartment of TCU student Brennan Rodriguez.
According to the affidavit, Pickens died from an accidental overdose of heroin. The Medical Examiner's report is still pending.
Rodriguez has been charged with tampering with physical evidence and was arrested and released with a bond of $5,000. He has been suspended from the university, and his initial court appearance is on March 26 at 9 a.m.
Detective T.S. O’Brien of the Fort Worth Police Homicide Unit wrote in the affidavit that he interviewed Andrew Tittle, Rodriguez's cousin, at Baylor All Saints Medical Center on Jan. 29, shortly after he brought Pickens there.
At the time, Tittle told the detective that Tittle was at Rodriguez’s apartment the evening Pickens had “shot up” heroin; Rodriguez confirmed this, according to the affidavit.
According to the affidavit, Tittle called O’Brien that evening and told him he wanted to tell the truth.
The affidavit provides a detailed account of what Tittle told O'Brien occurred in Rodriguez's apartment that day. Tittle told O'Brien that Pickens had been there earlier in the day and that Rodriguez and Pickens had taken heroin and Xanax.
In the affidavit, Tittle said Pickens came over around 11:30 p.m. and “asked Brennan Rodriguez to give him just enough heroin to make him doze off.”
O'Brien wrote that Tittle said he watched Rodriguez load a syringe and inject heroin into Pickens’ arm. After the injection, Rodriguez and Tittle left to get more heroin.
Tittle told O'Brien that Pickens appeared to have “passed out and was sweating profusely” when they returned. Tittle and Rodriguez tried to shake Pickens, but he was unresponsive, so they gave him water and an ice pack.
According to the affidavit, Tittle said Pickens appeared to be sleeping because he was snoring, but when his alarm went off at 8:00 a.m. on Jan. 29, he was unconscious and no longer snoring.
O'Brien wrote that Tittle said he and Rodriguez did not call 911 out of fear that Rodriguez would “get in trouble for another person overdosing at his apartment.”
Approximately two months earlier, another person suffered an overdose at Rodriguez’s apartment, according to the affidavit. A witness cited in the affidavit called 911 and the person survived. Instead of calling 911, Tittle said that Rodriguez asked him to take Pickens to the hospital.
According to the affidavit, Pickens was pronounced dead at 9:20 a.m. on Jan. 29 at Baylor All Saints Medical Center.
According to the affidavit, Rodriguez hid drugs and paraphernalia including spoons, syringes, cotton swabs, heroin, Xanax and brownies containing marijuana in a maintenance closet across from his apartment. The affidavit said Rodriguez hid the items before police came to search the apartment and retrieved them once police left on Jan. 29.
O'Brien wrote that police found one syringe and numerous Q-tips with what appeared to be heroin residue on the refrigerator during the first search of Rodriguez's apartment. According to the affidavit, on Jan. 30, police came back with a warrant and found another Q-tip with what appeared to be heroin residue on Rodriguez’s nightstand next to his bed.
The affidavit recounted that another overdose happened in Rodriguez’s apartment on Nov. 6, 2012.
On Feb. 1, the people present that night in November, excluding Rodriguez, gave police audio statements detailing what happened.
According to the affidavit, an unidentified man knew Rodriguez did heroin and wanted to try it, so he went to Rodriguez’s apartment.
The man told police that Rodriguez shot him up with a heroin-filled syringe, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit cited another witness, who was identified as Rodriguez’s ex-girlfriend, who said the man passed out on the couch after being in the bathroom with Rodriguez.
The ex-girlfriend said it wasn’t long until the man started “breathing weird (almost like snoring) and foaming at the mouth,” according to the affidavit.
Rodriguez’s ex-girlfriend said she and Rodriguez attempted to pick up the man and take him to the hospital, but he was too heavy, so they searched the Internet for symptoms of heroin overdose and what to say to the police so they didn’t “get in trouble.”
In the affidavit, the ex-girlfriend said she called 911 because they were afraid the man might die.
According to the affidavit, all the man remembers is waking up in the hospital.
“He had apparently overdosed and was rushed to the hospital by ambulance,” according to the affidavit.
The affidavit said that on Feb. 12, Detective O’Brien received a lab report confirming the brown residue on the Q-tips found at Rodriguez’ apartment contained heroin.