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Tests of the teen's blood came out negative for alcohol and drugs, including an acne medicine linked to depression.
By TAMARA LUSH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 16, 2002
TAMPA -- Charles Bishop, the 15-year-old student pilot who crashed a small plane into a Tampa high-rise on Jan. 5, did not have alcohol or drugs in his system when he died.
Toxicology tests released Tuesday by the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner showed no sign of Accutane, an acne medication that some have linked to suicide and depression. Investigators found a prescription for Accutane in Bishop's name when they searched his Palm Harbor home after his death.
Dr. Wayne Duer, chief toxicologist with the Medical Examiner's office, tested Bishop's blood sample for a range of substances, including opiates, antidepressants, stimulants, marijuana, PCP and cocaine.
All came back negative, he said.
The teen, who wanted to join the Air Force, had written a suicide note expressing sympathy with Osama bin Laden. The two-page handwritten note was found among the crash debris on the 28th floor of the Bank of America building.
Bishop, a ninth-grader at East Lake High School, took the plane without authorization from a Clearwater flying school shortly after his grandmother had dropped him off for flying lessons.
Authorities said it was unclear whether Bishop had actually taken the Accutane pills found in his home.
The medication affects the body's central nervous system.
The Food and Drug Administration has received reports of 37 suicides and 110 attempted suicides by Accutane patients between 1982, when the drug was approved, and May 2000. It has also received reports of about 300 more cases of depression in people who had taken the drug. Of those who committed suicide, 84 percent were young males, with an average age of 17.
But the FDA said those numbers are not out of line with national suicide statistics.
The link between Accutane, suicide and depression has not been proved. Some people have reported depression while taking the drug, while others have reported the symptom after finishing with the drug.
According to the FDA Web site, of the 37 suicides from 1982 to May 2000, 24 were taking the drug when they committed suicide and 13 had stopped the drug when they committed suicide.
The drug's maker, Roche Laboratories, added a warning to the drug's label saying that the FDA had received reports of suicides and depression involving people who had taken Accutane.
In 2000, a congressman entered the debate when his son committed suicide. U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said his 17-year-old son had been taking Accutane when he shot himself.
Accutane stays in a person's body for at least two days, said Duer, the toxicologist. Bishop's blood sample level of Accutane was zero, he said, which meant that Bishop had not taken the drug in the two or three days before his death.
Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Dr. Vernard Adams said that he has received calls from a congressional subcommittee seeking information about the Bishop case and the possible Accutane link.
Adams said that while he gladly will release the findings of the toxicology report, he will not draw any conclusions from it.
"We're not going to attach any opinions" as to what caused Bishop to commit suicide, said Adams.
Bishop's best friend, Emerson Favreau, gave reporters another explanation. Favreau said Bishop "hated bin Laden" and said his friend was passionate about flying and showed no signs of depression.
"The best explanation that I can think of is that he wanted attention, and he was willing to commit suicide to get it," Favreau told the St. Petersburg Times.
On Monday, the National Transportation Safety Board ruled out mechanical failure as the cause of the crash.