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St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Thursday, May 20, 2004 10:47 AM CDT
Oakland teen charged in wake of suicide

By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer

OAKLAND -- The teenage survivor of a Feb. 5 attempted double suicide at a Douglas County state park was arrested Wednesday on charges of unlawfully inducing the other teenager to commit suicide.

Austen Eriksen, 18, of Oakland was arrested by Illinois State Police agents on a warrant issued by the office of Douglas County State's Attorney's Diane Sipich.

Eriksen was charged with two counts of unlawfully inducing Eric Richardson, 17, of rural Hindsboro to commit suicide.

The two teenagers were found unconscious by friends early Feb. 5 in a locked pickup truck at Walnut State Park, north of Oakland. Richardson was pronounced dead at the scene. Eriksen was treated and released from Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana.

Autopsy results for Richardson reported that he died from an overdose of the legal drug, Dextromethorphan. The drug, known as DXM, is found in over-the-counter cold and cough remedies. The coroner's jury's verdict ruled Richardson committed suicide.

Eriksen also reportedly ingested a large quantity of DXM. Police reported during the March inquest into Richardson's death that Eriksen had left a suicide note to his girlfriend the night before he and Richardson each ingested more than a dozen DXM tablets.

Sipich said the arrest resulted from the efforts of the Douglas County Sheriff's Department, Illinois State Police, and East Central Illinois Task Force.

"There were quite a few interviews and quite a few investigations," Sipich said.

The state's attorney said one count against Eriksen focuses on him providing DXM to Richardson knowing he planned to use it to commit suicide. She said the other count centers on Eriksen riding to Walnut Point with Richardson and taking the drugs with him.

Both counts involve doses of DXM that were larger than therapeutic levels, Sipich said.

Unlawfully inducing someone to commit suicide is a class 4 felony. Eriksen could receive one to three years in prison for each of the counts.

According to the Illinois State Police and Douglas County sheriff, Eriksen allegedly purchased the DXM over the Internet. DXM causes a hallucinatory high in large doses, and has dangerous affects on a user's visual perception and cognitive process.

Both Eriksen and Richardson were attending Oakland High School as seniors at the time of the Feb. 5 incident.

Contact Rob Stroud at rstroud@jg-tc.com or 348-5734.

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