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.