In early September 2017, Eric Chase Bolling, the 19-year-old son of former Fox News host Eric Bolling, was found dead in his University of Colorado bed. Bolling was reportedly enduring “emotional torture” over the sexual harassment claims against Fox News father. He was found on Friday, September 8, his blankets over him in a normal position.
According to various reports, Bolling, 19, was ‘destroyed’ after his father left Fox News amid claims he sent unsolicited photos of male genitalia to colleagues. While Bolling Jr’s exact cause of death is unknown at this time, the “working theory” is that he died from an overdose. However, souces tell TMZ that no suicide note, pill bottles or drug paraphernalia were found at the scene.
Now, six weeks later, Bolling Jr’s cause of death has been revealed. Eric Bolling Sr. took to Twitter to announce that his son’s autopsy revealed that he died of an accidental opioid overdose.
PEOPLE obtained the coroner’s report:
The Boulder County Coroner’s report, obtained by PEOPLE on Thursday, lists the cause of death as “mixed drug intoxication” and ruled it as an accident. The post-mortem toxicology report, which was completed on Sept. 11, revealed Eric Chase had cocaine, marijuana, alprazolam (commonly known as Xanax), and the opioid drugs, fentanyl and cyclopropyl fentanyl, in his system. “History of drug abuse and white powdery substance discovered at the scene,” stated the report.
Fentanyl, the same drug that also killed music icon Prince, is classified as a Schedule II drug by the federal government and its medical uses are typically pain management following surgery or for chronic pain. Cyclopropyl fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is chemically similar to fentanyl but is not intended for human or animal use.
Fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin, up to 100 times stronger than morphine.
According to the New York Times, drug overdose deaths in 2016 most likely exceeded 59,000, the largest annual jump ever recorded in the United States. Furthermore, drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50. The Times report states that all evidence suggests the problem has continued to worsen in 2017.
Eric Bolling Jr. was 19-years-old.
