Death at Busch home investigatedBY NICHOLAS J.C. PISTOR
npistor@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8265 JESSE BOGAN
jbogan@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8255 and SHANE ANTHONY
santhony@post-dispatch.com 636-255-7209
http://www.STLtoday.com | Posted: Friday, December 24, 2010 12:30 am
HUNTLEIGH • The investigation into the death of a 27-year-old woman in the Huntleigh home of former Anheuser-Busch chief executive August Busch IV will take at least a month as police wait for the results of a medical examiner's report.
Adrienne N. Martin of St. Charles was pronounced dead at 1:26 p.m. Sunday, according to the St. Louis County medical examiner's office. Martin and Busch had been dating for the last several months, friends said.
Toxicology and other tests will take four to six weeks before a cause of death is finalized.
"There will be some tests that take some time to get results," said Suzanne McCune, administrator of the medical examiner's office.
A law enforcement source told the Post-Dispatch that the death was initially being investigated as a possible overdose.
It was not immediately clear whether Busch was at the house, in the 2800 block of South Lindbergh Boulevard, at the time of Martin's death. A long asphalt driveway leads to the home but is blocked by a gate. A man who identified himself as a groundskeeper referred a Post-Dispatch reporter at the gate to local attorney Art Margulis.
Margulis said: "I can tell you there is absolutely nothing suspicious about her passing, and it's a tragic and untimely death of a young person. A very kind young person, by the way."
Busch and Martin had been dating for at least a year, Margulis said.
Adrienne Martin was divorced earlier this year from Dr. Kevin J. Martin, whom she married in 2002. Kevin Martin, 45, is now a doctor in Cape Girardeau, Mo. He and Adrienne had been separated since February 2009, according to their divorce file. They had a son, who is now 8, and had joint custody of him.Alicia Green, 34, of St. Charles, said she met Adrienne Martin a couple of years ago. They both lived in the New Town development in St. Charles, their sons played together, and Martin attended many of the neighborhood functions, Green said.
She described Martin as artistic, known for painting murals and drawing intricate chalk designs, and a devoted mother. Martin, she said, was "friends with everyone in New Town. Everyone."
"My heart just breaks for her son," Green said.
Green also said Martin was working on a master's degree in art therapy counseling. She recalled Martin telling her she was dating Busch, and that the two were together at the Lake of the Ozarks earlier this year.
Friends said Martin had moved out of her town house in New Town earlier this year and was living in a nearby apartment. Martin recently had worked as a waitress, including at the Lure nightclub in St. Louis, where she was a waitress about a year ago.
A few years ago, Martin posted photos and a description of herself on modeling websites called istudio.com and onemodelplace.com. She wrote that she had worked for Hooters and took part in swimsuit competitions and pageants. She also wrote that she was studying to be an art therapist and wanted to help children. And she mentioned an interest in modeling.
"I really would like to do beer advertising!" she wrote. "Since I have only just begun I can't wait for my exciting times ahead!"
Delay, discrepancy
The Post-Dispatch was the first to report the death, which it did on the STLtoday.com website late Thursday morning.
After questions from the newspaper, Frontenac police, who cover Huntleigh, issued a statement later Thursday afternoon saying they received a 911 call at 1:15 p.m. Sunday about an "unresponsive person" at the home.
Paramedics and police officers found a 27-year-old woman deceased and "with no apparent signs of trauma or other indications of cause of death," the release said.Frontenac Police Chief Tom Becker declined requests for interviews and wrote in an e-mail that the department will wait for the medical examiner's results. Asked why information about the death was not publicized earlier, Becker responded by e-mail that the department released information as soon as it received media inquiries and after approval by the city attorney.
Frontenac police issued their first press release Thursday afternoon saying the death occurred Sunday. About 45 minutes later, Becker sent a message saying there was a typo and that the day was incorrect; an updated release said the death occurred Saturday. Pressed about the discrepancy by the Post-Dispatch, Becker later said in an e-mail that Sunday was correct after all and that the entry for the report "was off."
Busch, 46, took over as CEO of the brewing giant in 2006, but his tenure ended with the sale of A-B to InBev two years later. Since the buyout, Busch has faded from public view.The Post-Dispatch reported in 2009 that Busch had not been spotted at beer industry events, trade meetings or conferences. In January 2009, he was granted a divorce from his wife of 2½ years. That same month, he resigned as a director of FedEx Corp., a position he had held since 2003. After that, he was splitting time between a home near the Lake of the Ozarks and his home in Huntleigh.
In 1984, Busch avoided criminal charges after a car crash in Arizona that killed a 22-year-old woman.The crash occurred on Nov. 13, 1983, outside Tucson. Busch, 20 at the time and a student at the University of Arizona, left a bar with the woman and, shortly after, crashed his black Corvette, police said.
The woman, Michele Frederick, was thrown from the car. Busch was found six hours later at his home, dazed and bloodied. He had suffered a fractured skull and claimed he had amnesia.
Authorities later said his blood alcohol level at the estimated time of the accident had been below the legal level for intoxication in Arizona.
The investigation took seven months, after which authorities declined to press criminal charges, saying there wasn't adequate evidence to do so. They said the investigation took so long because of the "high profile" of the Busch family and because family lawyers had fought the taking of hair and fiber samples from Busch.
A year later in St. Louis, in 1985, Busch was charged with third-degree assault after a high-speed police chase in the city's West End ended with an officer shooting out a tire on his silver Mercedes-Benz.
Undercover narcotics detectives began chasing Busch after his speeding car almost hit their vehicle, police said. Their car was unmarked. After chasing the car and shooting out the left rear tire, police found a .38-caliber revolver in the back seat.
Busch also was accused of nearly running down two of the undercover detectives who tried to approach the Mercedes.
Busch maintained that he thought he was fleeing from potential kidnappers and did not realize that the men, working undercover with long hair and beards, were police officers. He went to trial on three counts of assault but was acquitted by a jury.Susan Weich and Patrick O'Connell of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
