Drug Problems & Death
Kerry's history of drug problems covered most of the 1980's. He was arrested at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in 1983 after U.S. Customs agents, during a routine inspection, caught him with 18 unmarked tablets in his right front pocket. Inside the crotch of his pants was a plastic bag containing an assortment of nearly 300 other pills (including codeine, diazepam, Librium, and possibly Percodan), ten grams of marijuana, and 6.5 grams of "blue and white powder". Eighteen months later the charges were dropped by the Tarrant County district attorney.
Drugs were also a factor in his motorcycle crash in 1986 that cost him his right foot as it is believed he was under the influence at the time of the crash.
In February 1992, Kerry was arrested for forging a prescription. In October, he was sentenced to a $6000 fine and 10 years of probation.
On February 17, 1993, Kerry was arrested at an apartment complex in Irving, Texas, for possession of cocaine. Fearing a prison sentence for violating his probation, Kerry shot himself in the chest the next day and died. He used a .44 caliber pistol, which he had given to his father for Christmas the year before.
He was the third brother in the Von Erich family to have committed suicide (Mike in 1987 and Chris in 1991).
