Heroin overdose claims third member of St. Louis family

ST. LOUIS -- For the third time since 2009, a St. Louis family is dealing with the loss of a loved one from a heroin overdose.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported 23-year-old Tyler Athanas died Wednesday at his grandmother's home, where he was living.

He was in his bedroom and wasn't responding. His brother Nick forced open Tyler's bedroom door and found him.

He was pronounced dead from an apparent overdose.

"I can't believe it," his grandmother, Carol Athanas, said. "He was my little buddy."

Tyler's father, Tom Athanas, 42, died from an overdose in 2009.

Tom's son and Tyler's brother, 29-year-old Tommy Athanas, died in his grandmother's basement in June.

Nick Athanas, 27, said he also has struggled with addiction but has been clean of opioids since he went to jail two years ago.

"He's all we have left," Carol Athanas said of Nick.

The family was featured in a Post-Dispatch story Feb. 20 about the heroin epidemic.

More than 650 people died from opioid overdoses in the St. Louis region last year, which is more than four times as many as in 2007.

The city of St. Louis reported 256 opioid deaths last year, blamed partly on the prevalence of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that arrived on the streets in recent years.

Nick said Tyler was a high-school dropout who had been using drugs since he was 15.

He had been to rehab and struggled to find work and remain positive.

Relatives said emergency responders found heroin, a needle, a spoon and dozens of orange medicine containers of pills in his bedroom.