Cause Not Found in Contra Case Witness Death

An autopsy on Steven Carr, a key federal witness in a government probe of weapons shipments to Nicaraguan contras , did not clearly reveal the cause of his death, authorities said Monday.

Carr, 27, collapsed and died early Saturday morning in the driveway of a Van Nuys home.

“Our preliminary investigation tends to indicate that Steven Carr’s death was the result of an accidental overdose of cocaine and possibly a little alcohol,” said Van Nuys Division Police Detective Mel Arnold. “There is no evidence, as of yet, of foul play.

“At this point . . . we’re waiting for the toxicological tests. . . . There is evidence by Mr. Carr’s action prior to his death . . . and physiological reactions that support the apparent accidental cocaine overdose theory.”

Toxicology Reports

Coroner’s spokesman Dean Gilmour said results of toxicology reports due later this week will determine the cause of death.

Carr was a witness in the investigation of the movement arms from Florida to Nicaraguan contra rebels.

Ana Barnett, an assistant to U.S. Atty. Leon Kellner in Miami, said Carr’s death will not destroy a case being prepared on alleged contra gunrunning from the Miami area.

“We weren’t really relying on him as a prime witness,” Barnett said Monday, although Carr was an eyewitness to one alleged shipment of weapons from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to El Salvador’s Ilopango military airport on March 6, 1985.

Carr’s sister Ann Carr, of Naples, Fla., said her brother was “very paranoid and frightened” because of his role as a witness in the case.

Barnett said Steven Carr’s value as a witness was undermined because he had “given a lot of different sworn statements” about details of the weapons shipment.

But federal investigators have other evidence to corroborate the existence of the March, 1985, shipment, Barnett said.

The investigation is separate from the one involving the Reagan Administration and the reported diversion to contra bank accounts of $30 million in payments for arms shipped to Iran.

Carr was arrested by Costa Rican authorities in April, 1985, on charges of violating Costa Rican neutrality. He remained in jail in Costa Rica until last summer, when he was released on bail and fled to the United States.

Carr was released from a county jail in Naples last month after serving time for a probation violation on a prior charge. Family members said he was staying with a friend in the Sepulveda home of another sister.