Nelson’s Aide Calls Cocaine Report False

Rick Nelson’s personal manager termed “pure nonsense” Wednesday a published report that fire caused by “free-basing” cocaine may have caused the New Year’s Eve DC-3 crash in Texas that killed the rock singer, his fiancee and five band members.

Greg McDonald insisted in Palm Springs that his client did not free-base and that the cause of the crash near DeKalb, Tex., was faulty heaters in the aircraft.

Nelson’s older brother, David, told “The CBS Morning News” that as far as he knew, the singer did not use cocaine at all and that in any event, he would not have free-based.

Free-basing involves mixing cocaine with flammable ether or another solvent to eliminate impurities. The purified cocaine is usually smoked in a pipe over a steady flame.

McDonald said he had learned from the DC-3’s pilot, Brad Rank, who was released from a Texarkana, Ark., hospital on Tuesday, that the passengers--including the 45-year-old Nelson and his fiancee, Helen Blair, 27--were asleep when the plane filled with smoke and went down.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators have yet to determine what caused the crash-landing. Although chief safety board investigator Rudy Kapustin told the Dallas Morning News that the board was investigating the possibility of a drug-related fire, board spokesman Ira Furman said there is “no evidence now to support that kind of speculation.”

Others involved in the probe indicated that the drug theory was only one of several possible causes being considered.

The report of possible free-basing appeared in a Washington Post article that was also published by The Times. It quoted unidentified sources as saying Nelson’s body contained a measurable level of unmetabolized cocaine.

Furman, however, said the board did not yet have autopsy reports on any of the passengers.