Coroner Says Couple Died of Overdose
Ventura County coroner’s officials said Thursday that a La Conchita couple who were found dead by the woman’s two children in March died from a morphine overdose.
Robert A. Kruger, a 37-year-old financial planner, and his girlfriend, Christine Churchill, 28, were discovered dead in their bedroom by Churchill’s 6-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son.
Sheriff’s officials searched the couple’s San Fernando Avenue home to determine if the couple had been murdered or committed suicide. But toxicology tests show Kruger and Churchill died accidentally after ingesting morphine, said Jim Wingate, the chief investigator for the county medical examiner.
“We think it was bought on the street, and that it appears the strength of the medication was much, much higher than the couple thought they bought,” Wingate said.
Churchill also had a small amount of Valium in her system, but that drug did not contribute significantly to her death, coroner’s officials said.
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