Cause of death for ex-Steelers pick Charles Johnson released
The cause of death has been revealed.
The Football Feed
Former Pittsburgh Steelers draft pick Charles Johnson was discovered dead in a hotel room near his Raleigh, North Carolina home this past July. He had "acute oxycodone, hydrocodone and mirtazapine toxicity" in his system when he died, according to USA Today, despite never having been prescribed anything at the time or had any medical history.
Per the medical examiner, his death has been ruled a suicide.
“In the previous week, he had been acting strange and had recently purchased a funeral and cremation service,” said the report obtained by USA TODAY Sports.
“The only personal items in the hotel room appeared to be two empty bottles of water, an empty travel (sized) bottle of body lotion, an empty travel container, a pair or sandals and a pair of eyeglasses,” said the report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Raleigh. “A query of the North Carolina Prescription Monitoring Service showed no active prescriptions. An old (2018) short-term hydrocodone prescription was documented.”
The 50 year old Johnson, who won the Super Bowl as part of the New England Patriots team in 2002, was serving as the assistant athletic director at Heritage High School in Wake Forest, North Carolina at the time of his untimely passing.
An original 1st round pick of the Steelers in 1994 after having played collegiate football at Colorado, Johnson would play a handful of seasons with Pittsburgh, racking up 247 catches for 3,400 yards and 15 touchdowns. He would later join their in-state rival Philadelphia Eagles in 1999, amassing 90 catches for 1,056 yards and eight touchdowns.
He would later join the Patriots, winning the Super Bowl before finishing his career with the Buffalo Bills. He would ultimately rack up 354 catches for 4,606 yards and 24 touchdowns over the course of his NFL career.
