There’s yet another twist in the mystery surrounding the death of freelance TV producer Jeff Rice, who was found dead in a hotel room in Uganda last week.
STORY: So Sad! “Amazing Race” Producer Poisoned In Africa!
Now new reports have surfaced claiming that Rice had large quantities of cocaine in his stomach, which may be the result of a smuggling operation gone badly.
Last week Rice, who worked as a fixer on the reality show The Amazing Race, was discovered with his production assistant. Catherine Fuller was found unconscious in the same room and is critically ill in the hospital.
An autopsy found large quantities of cocaine in Rice’s stomach, leading to speculation that the pair was involved in a botched smuggling operation. But TV sources claimed the pair was forced to ingest the drug after a failed shakedown.
Local police told the Daily Monitor that Rice died of a suspected cocaine overdose.
Officer Asuman Mugenyi told the Monitor:
“’Results from the analytical laboratory indicate that there was an overdose of cocaine. There was too much concentration in the stomach.”
Fuller was improving, but she had not yet spoken with law enforcement, police said.
Police had at one point thought the death was caused by choking, but in this case it made no sense, as there were two people involved.
Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, an addiction specialist at Stony Brook University, told Fox News that the most likely reason for cocaine in the stomach would be from a bungled smuggling operation or forced ingestion.
“If someone were to snort very large amounts of cocaine, there could have been some trace amounts from nasal drip into the stomach. But if the concentration was found in the stomach, that’s likely a result of smuggling or ingestion.
A typical overdose from the traditional methods of using cocaine is not going to be in the stomach. If it was found in his stomach, it could absolutely have been the result of poisoning if he was forced to ingest it.”
Rice’s mysterious death continues to be speculative in Uganda as more information comes forward.
