Heroin, Ecstasy
killed Tuinei

The medical examiner's
report confirms that the
combination was lethal
to the former football star

His final hours

By Susan Parrott
Associated Press

PLANO, Texas -- Mark Tuinei died accidentally of a combination of heroin and a stimulant, according to a report today from the Collin County medical examiner.

Plano police chief Bruce Glasscock said he believed Tuinei, a former Punahou School, University of Hawaii and Dallas Cowboys star, had never used heroin before.

"Here was an individual who used heroin one time, and he ended up dead as a result of that," Glasscock said at a press conference.

Tuinei, 39, died last Thursday morning. According to a police affidavit, Cowboys running back Nicky Sualua said Tuinei spent the previous evening procuring heroin and passed out after taking the drug at a north Dallas apartment.

Glasscock said there have been no arrests in connection with Tuinei's death, adding that the arrests of three people outside the apartment where Sualua said Tuinei took the heroin were unrelated to the case.

He declined to say whether Sualua was in legal jeopardy. The case will be turned over a task force of the U.S. Attorney's office.

The affidavit that described Tuinei's last night was filed so police could convince a Collin County judge to issue a warrant for officers to search Tueinei's Plano home. Glasscock said police found a marijuana pipe, a marijuana cigarette and a tablet that appeared to be Ecstasy, a mood-enhancing stimulant.

Glasscock said the police investigation determined that Tuinei had been using Ecstasy heavily for the last two weeks. The coroner's report found traces of methylenedioxyamphetamine, similar to Ecstasy, in his bloodstream.

Glasscock said the investigation did not indicate that any other members of the Cowboys were with Tuinei on his last night. He also said Sualua, to his knowledge, was never tested for drugs, although police spent several hours with him after Tuinei died.

"It's totally a shock to me," former safety and current assistant coach Bill Bates said about Tuinei's heroin use, "and it's something that is not going to take away from the love I had for him and the times that we had together."

A funeral for Tuinei is scheduled for Thursday in Hawaii. His widow, Pono, was in Hawaii at the time of his death. She traveled briefly to Dallas for a memorial service Saturday but has since returned to Hawaii, her lawyer said.