South Carolina frat member found dead after St. Patrick’s Day party died of alcohol poisoning: coroner

Source: NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

BY Doyle Murphy

April 8, 2015

A University of South Carolina student discovered dead after a St. Patrick’s Day frat party drank himself to death, an autopsy revealed.

Charles Terreni Jr., the son of a prominent lawyer, had a blood alcohol level of nearly five times the state’s legal driving limit when he died inside an off-campus house, a toxicology test revealed.

“Very sad,” Richland County Coroner Gary Watts told the Daily News.

The house was a hangout of the local Xi chapter of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, and the members hosted a boozy St. Patrick’s Day blowout, neighbors told WISTV.

Terreni, a freshman member of the frat, was found dead the next morning, authorities said.

His father was a former staffer for then-Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler and had held other high-powered jobs in South Carolina politics, WISTV reported.

The university suspended the Xi chapter following Terreni’s death.

A chapter spokesman said the members were cooperating with the Columbia police investigation into the tragedy.