Prescription drugs killed Kenwood soldier

The death of a 22-year-old Army gunner from Kenwood last August was caused by a lethal combination of pain medications that his parents said he likely took to help him sleep.

Dustin Mark Tucker, a 2004 Maria Carrillo High School graduate and gunner with the Army's 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, died Aug. 30 while home on leave from the war in Iraq.

He had plans for his 18-day leave, his family said: He wanted to golf, fish and show off the prestigious coin award given to him by a three-star general weeks before. He did not want to talk about the war or what he had seen.

"I just think the visions of war were extremely difficult to handle," said his mother, Cindy Tucker.

She and her husband, Mark Tucker, think it was those images that kept Dustin up at night and that his inability to sleep led him to take the methadone and oxycodone that killed him.

Test results returned last week showed that Tucker died of an accidental mixture of the two prescription drugs, said Sgt. Mitch Mana, of the Sonoma County Coroner's Office.

Methadone and oxycodone produce morphine-like effects and are used to treat chronic pain.

On leave from his first tour in Iraq, Tucker was having trouble sleeping, Cindy Tucker said.

During his brief respite from war, the family spotted him awake late into the night and then again, early in the morning.

"You could see him sitting on the bed, reading. The only thing he said was that they don't sleep much there (in Iraq)," Cindy Tucker said.

While at home, Tucker had shown no signs of illness or injury and had not mentioned being on any medications, she said.

On Aug. 27, he said he was tired, then slept late the next morning. He was still sleeping when his brothers left for a game of golf. When they returned about 4:30 p.m., he was unconscious and not breathing. He was taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital and declared dead two days later.

When the Sept. 2 autopsy failed to show an obvious cause of death, further tests were conducted.

Cindy and Mark Tucker said they have not found any prescription drug bottles among their son's belongings and don't know where he got the medication.

"He was not a druggie," Mark Tucker said. "He was a hero."

Cindy Tucker believes Dustin took the drugs to help him, finally, get to sleep.

"He traveled for four days and didn't sleep much, then Wednesday night he was really starting to feel like how was he ever going to get some sleep," she said. "I think he took them to try to sleep. Just for that one night. It explains what he was up against."

You can reach Staff Writer Laura Norton at 521-5220 or laura.norton@pressdemocrat.

com. Randi Rossmann contributed to this report.