A grieving mom's message
Dawn Stamplecoskie's son, Killian Ross, died after taking a mystery substance. She hopes his story will serve as a warning to other young people
February 15, 2008
ANNE KELLY
RECORD STAFF
Killian Ross's mother refused to believe he was dead. Demanding to see the 19-year-old, Dawn Stamplecoskie was led to his body at Cambridge Memorial Hospital.
"I rubbed his hands," recalls the petite, soft-spoken woman at her Kitchener home. "I tried to comfort him. I kissed him. I was definitely in shock."
She couldn't accept that the son she believed had been drug free for a couple of years, had died of a suspected accidental overdose.
"I didn't believe he was doing drugs," she quietly laments.
Her long-held fears that Killian wouldn't live through his teenage years were realized when he died Jan. 5, after ingesting a mystery drug he had referred to as powdered acid.
Killian's life-long best friend Jeremy Butler, of Cambridge, says Killian thought he was buying acid, also known as LSD. But since his death, his friends have scoured the Internet and think that the so-called powdered acid, may have been synthetic heroin.
Butler says there are also rumours the dealer who sold it to Killian mixed it with Ajax cleanser.
Police say they've never heard of powdered acid and aren't sure what Killian may have taken.
But they say it's not unusual for drug dealers to mix a variety of substances with powdered drugs to increase their weight and street value.
An autopsy showed no illness or anatomical reason for the Cambridge man's death. Toxicology test results are expected next month, which should show what types of substances were in Killian's system.
Butler says many in Killian's large circle of friends have sworn off hard drugs since his death.
"I think it's changed quite a few people," he says, "A lot of people cared for him. It's been very hard."
Butler, who swore off hard drugs years ago, says Killian had grown from the little boy everyone picked on to protector of his many friends.
Two Facebook sites, R.I.P. Killian Ross and Drop the Drugs for Killian, have been set up in his memory.
While his family waits to learn what killed Killian, they want to share his story as a warning of the danger of street drugs.
Killian Ross began life as a sweet, dimple-faced child.
"As a baby, he was wonderful," says Dawn, who was 19 when he was born.
She and his biological father were together on and off for the first three or four years of his life. Trouble started around age seven. He began stealing money from his mother. By age nine he had morphed into an angry young boy.
"He always had a good heart," Dawn says. "He made some bad choices."
When he was 12, the family turned to a counsellor to help with their increasingly troubled son.
By 13 he had developed a fascination with gangs. He became aggressive at home, telling his stepfather, Wayne, in one particularly ugly altercation, that he would have him killed.
"I think there was a bit of jealousy with Killian," Dawn says. Because of his unpredictability, she feared for the safety of her and Wayne's new baby, Breanne.
Police were called that night and Dawn says they recommended that Killian be removed from the home. He went to stay with neighbours until a foster home was found.
At 14, he was diagnosed with depression, but wouldn't stay on medication because it made him feel tired and unfocused. He began using marijuana and later cocaine and ecstasy.
He stole CDs, jewelry and cars and was arrested several times. Until age 18, he spent most of his time in group homes and open custody facilities.
"Whenever he needed to be home, I would let him come home," says Dawn. But "there were too many rules, he didn't like rules at all."
In the past few years, the young man known as "Killer" to his friends, seemed to be turning things around.
He told his family he had "found God" and gave up drugs. He worked as a roofer before being laid off six months ago.
Breanne, now aged seven, and brother Riley, six, adored their half-brother. He brought gifts for everyone on Christmas Day.
That was the last time they saw him alive.
Killian told his mother he drank alcohol every day, but didn't tell her he'd returned to cocaine in the past year.
Still, Butler says Killian was happy.
The night before he died, he was at the home of a friend and was seen taking the powdered acid. He later collapsed. The next afternoon he was disoriented. He wandered outside without a shirt and tried to give friends all his possessions. No one called his mother.
Around 8:30 p.m. Killian suffered a seizure. His roommates called 911.
His heart stopped once in the ambulance and paramedics revived him. But when it stopped again at hospital, he couldn't be saved. The coroner told Dawn he likely had multiple seizures.
Coroner Jay Baker says he had never heard of powdered acid until Killian's death.
"The police brought the name to my attention and said that it was a new drug that seemed to be making an appearance in the region."
They also referred to it by the name C2-E, which according to the Internet is a synthetic psychedelic.
But Waterloo regional police Staff Sgt. Frank Sinko, with the region's drug unit, says he's never heard of a drug by either name.
"The street terminology and lingo changes," says Sinko, adding police aren't always familiar with the latest names and they don't always represent what's in the drug.
Both he and Baker warn of the many perils with street drugs.
"The use of any illicit drug is inherently a dangerous thing because you don't know what's in it," says Baker. "There may be contaminants in it. It may be not what you expect it to be, it may not be the strength you expect it to be. The more unfamiliar it is the more risky it is."
Baker says with so little known about powdered acid, it's uncertain if toxicologists can test for it. The technologist he spoke to at the forensics lab in Toronto had never heard of it.
"If it hasn't come up before, it won't be part of the easily identified drugs that are looked for," Baker says.
Baker is investigating the death of another man, in his 30s and from Cambridge, who died of a suspected drug overdose in the past four months.
He's asked that his toxicology samples also be tested for powdered acid.
Dawn, a hairdresser, has spent the past year planning to open a hair salon catering to teenagers in downtown Kitchener.
"I kept feeling I'd be opening the salon in Killian's memory," she says.
"That's how it has turned out."
The shop, which she hopes to open in mid-March, will have a hip-hop theme and a wall dedicated to her son, signed by his friends.
"We want to help keep the other kids off drugs, maybe let them know there is help out there for them," says Dawn. "There are also teens out there who suffer from depression. It would be nice to make some connection with them."
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Dawn Stamplecoskie's son, Killian Ross, died after taking a mystery substance. She hopes his story will serve as a warning to other young people
February 15, 2008
ANNE KELLY
RECORD STAFF
Killian Ross's mother refused to believe he was dead. Demanding to see the 19-year-old, Dawn Stamplecoskie was led to his body at Cambridge Memorial Hospital.
"I rubbed his hands," recalls the petite, soft-spoken woman at her Kitchener home. "I tried to comfort him. I kissed him. I was definitely in shock."
She couldn't accept that the son she believed had been drug free for a couple of years, had died of a suspected accidental overdose.
"I didn't believe he was doing drugs," she quietly laments.
Her long-held fears that Killian wouldn't live through his teenage years were realized when he died Jan. 5, after ingesting a mystery drug he had referred to as powdered acid.
Killian's life-long best friend Jeremy Butler, of Cambridge, says Killian thought he was buying acid, also known as LSD. But since his death, his friends have scoured the Internet and think that the so-called powdered acid, may have been synthetic heroin.
Butler says there are also rumours the dealer who sold it to Killian mixed it with Ajax cleanser.
Police say they've never heard of powdered acid and aren't sure what Killian may have taken.
But they say it's not unusual for drug dealers to mix a variety of substances with powdered drugs to increase their weight and street value.
An autopsy showed no illness or anatomical reason for the Cambridge man's death. Toxicology test results are expected next month, which should show what types of substances were in Killian's system.
Butler says many in Killian's large circle of friends have sworn off hard drugs since his death.
"I think it's changed quite a few people," he says, "A lot of people cared for him. It's been very hard."
Butler, who swore off hard drugs years ago, says Killian had grown from the little boy everyone picked on to protector of his many friends.
Two Facebook sites, R.I.P. Killian Ross and Drop the Drugs for Killian, have been set up in his memory.
While his family waits to learn what killed Killian, they want to share his story as a warning of the danger of street drugs.
Killian Ross began life as a sweet, dimple-faced child.
"As a baby, he was wonderful," says Dawn, who was 19 when he was born.
She and his biological father were together on and off for the first three or four years of his life. Trouble started around age seven. He began stealing money from his mother. By age nine he had morphed into an angry young boy.
"He always had a good heart," Dawn says. "He made some bad choices."
When he was 12, the family turned to a counsellor to help with their increasingly troubled son.
By 13 he had developed a fascination with gangs. He became aggressive at home, telling his stepfather, Wayne, in one particularly ugly altercation, that he would have him killed.
"I think there was a bit of jealousy with Killian," Dawn says. Because of his unpredictability, she feared for the safety of her and Wayne's new baby, Breanne.
Police were called that night and Dawn says they recommended that Killian be removed from the home. He went to stay with neighbours until a foster home was found.
At 14, he was diagnosed with depression, but wouldn't stay on medication because it made him feel tired and unfocused. He began using marijuana and later cocaine and ecstasy.
He stole CDs, jewelry and cars and was arrested several times. Until age 18, he spent most of his time in group homes and open custody facilities.
"Whenever he needed to be home, I would let him come home," says Dawn. But "there were too many rules, he didn't like rules at all."
In the past few years, the young man known as "Killer" to his friends, seemed to be turning things around.
He told his family he had "found God" and gave up drugs. He worked as a roofer before being laid off six months ago.
Breanne, now aged seven, and brother Riley, six, adored their half-brother. He brought gifts for everyone on Christmas Day.
That was the last time they saw him alive.
Killian told his mother he drank alcohol every day, but didn't tell her he'd returned to cocaine in the past year.
Still, Butler says Killian was happy.
The night before he died, he was at the home of a friend and was seen taking the powdered acid. He later collapsed. The next afternoon he was disoriented. He wandered outside without a shirt and tried to give friends all his possessions. No one called his mother.
Around 8:30 p.m. Killian suffered a seizure. His roommates called 911.
His heart stopped once in the ambulance and paramedics revived him. But when it stopped again at hospital, he couldn't be saved. The coroner told Dawn he likely had multiple seizures.
Coroner Jay Baker says he had never heard of powdered acid until Killian's death.
"The police brought the name to my attention and said that it was a new drug that seemed to be making an appearance in the region."
They also referred to it by the name C2-E, which according to the Internet is a synthetic psychedelic.
But Waterloo regional police Staff Sgt. Frank Sinko, with the region's drug unit, says he's never heard of a drug by either name.
"The street terminology and lingo changes," says Sinko, adding police aren't always familiar with the latest names and they don't always represent what's in the drug.
Both he and Baker warn of the many perils with street drugs.
"The use of any illicit drug is inherently a dangerous thing because you don't know what's in it," says Baker. "There may be contaminants in it. It may be not what you expect it to be, it may not be the strength you expect it to be. The more unfamiliar it is the more risky it is."
Baker says with so little known about powdered acid, it's uncertain if toxicologists can test for it. The technologist he spoke to at the forensics lab in Toronto had never heard of it.
"If it hasn't come up before, it won't be part of the easily identified drugs that are looked for," Baker says.
Baker is investigating the death of another man, in his 30s and from Cambridge, who died of a suspected drug overdose in the past four months.
He's asked that his toxicology samples also be tested for powdered acid.
Dawn, a hairdresser, has spent the past year planning to open a hair salon catering to teenagers in downtown Kitchener.
"I kept feeling I'd be opening the salon in Killian's memory," she says.
"That's how it has turned out."
The shop, which she hopes to open in mid-March, will have a hip-hop theme and a wall dedicated to her son, signed by his friends.
"We want to help keep the other kids off drugs, maybe let them know there is help out there for them," says Dawn. "There are also teens out there who suffer from depression. It would be nice to make some connection with them."
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