1 CAR HORNS BEEP, SIRENS WAIL One of Hollywood's brightest young stars, 23-year-old River Phoenix, collapsed outside a Los Angeles nightclub early this morning. (GRUNTS) CAR HORNS BLARE River Phoenix was one of the most popular and exciting stars of the 1990s. His films included the cult classic Stand By Me and My Own Private Idaho. At 18, he received an Oscar nomination for his role in Running On Empty. But on the 31st of October 1993,... after an hour at friend Johnny Depp's exclusive nightclub in Los Angeles, River started fitting and convulsing... ...before dying on the pavement a very public death. The sudden demise of this rising young star, renowned for his clean living and anti-drug campaigning, shocked the world. FEMALE REPORTER: His death at the age of 23 is shrouded in mystery. An autopsy is planned tomorrow. The puzzle we have to solve is why such an apparently fit young man should suddenly die on a night out. Copyright Able 2016 The expertise of forensic pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd has been called upon for some of the most high-profile autopsies of the last few decades, including the inquest into Princess Diana's death and the Bali bombings of 2002. I have here the autopsy report for River Jude Phoenix, and from the information contained within these pages, I can determine exactly what caused the untimely death of this young man. TENSE MUSIC October the 22nd 1993. River Phoenix has been away from the bright lights of his home in Los Angeles for the last six weeks. Away in the seclusion of the tranquil beauty of the forest and mountainous region of Utah, he is shooting his new film, a thriller called Dark Blood, with its director, George Sluizer, who spends almost every hour of every day with him. I must say, while we walked in Utah, it was fresh air, it was woods, it was` (CHUCKLES) it was the opposite of a nightclub's, as I call it, atmosphere. River has been following a punishing schedule, filming up to 10 hours a day. During this time, the 23-year-old, already a millionaire, has been separated from his girlfriend, Samantha Mathis, brother Joaquin and sister Rain, with whom he is very close. River was on time, acting well; no problems, no complaints,... (CHUCKLES) which doesn't mean that everything went smooth. It was a tough production. I can see from the autopsy that outwardly, there's nothing wrong with River. The report describes him as muscular, well-built and fairly well-nourished. He was 5'10" in height and weighed 149 pounds, which means his BMI is about 21, which is exactly spot on. River Phoenix first burst on to the Hollywood scene in 1986 as a child star in the cult classic Stand By Me. It went on to gross over $52 million in the United States alone. I think the difference in River and other children he was probably up against was that he did have some charisma, and you can't really buy that, and you can't send somebody to a stage school to get that. After Stand By Me, River was in serious demand and worked alongside industry giants, such as Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg. SPIELBERG: And action. Perfect! But despite his fame, River seemed to shun the rock-and-roll trappings normally associated with movie stars. He was clean-living, cared deeply about the environment and was a committed vegan. He cared, period, about life and people and animals and whatever. He cared about the planet. He cared about life in general. There was a lot of people advising him not to talk about veganism; that it was sort of seen as, like, strange and off-putting. That` When River first, uh` uh, came up, most people didn't even know the word 'veganism'. You know, tried to use, like, his fame as a megaphone to get out the things that he thought were important. River was at least publicly anti-drugs, denouncing cocaine, heroin and alcohol. ROCK MUSIC In an interview in 1991 whilst touring with his rock band, Aleka's Attic, River dismisses all suggestions of dabbling. You're, like, gigging round America at the moment in your` in your truck. Isn't` Isn't rock, you know, or music` touring especially supposed to be, like, sex, drugs and rock and roll? Well, not with us, it's not. I mean, the rock-and-roll part fits. Yeah, but sex is, you know, ecological, isn't it? Uh, it's ecological, yes. Uh, the` the condoms aren't, though. TENSE MUSIC Tuesday 26th of October 1993. Two years after trying to make it as a rock star, River has returned from his six-week seclusion in the wilds of Utah. He's checked in to room 328 at Hotel Nikko. For the next two weeks, he will be filming the final studio scenes for Dark Blood. But out of the blue, he's struck down with a mystery illness. EXHALES: God. Looking at the toxicology report, I see that pseudoephedrine is present. This is a common component in many over-the-counter cold and flu remedies. It works by constricting the blood vessels and the nasal passages and helps to soothe a blocked nose. This clearly wasn't a contributory factor in River's death; however, it does point to him being unwell in the day before he died. (BREATHES HEAVILY) 4.30pm, River is due to have an important meeting with a director about his next movie project. But just a few minutes later, he calls his agent, barely able to speak. I don't wanna do it. He's in such bad shape that he actually can't make a meeting that was scheduled with the director who was flying in from London to see him. And he sort of, like, calls his agent, you know, sort of barely coherent, saying, 'You have to cancel.' When people see him, they say he looks terrible; he's, like, white; he's ghostly; he's skinny. Over the next few hours, River's condition gets worse. He was introverted, he was shaking ` he wasn't right in himself. But this was the first time when there was a general feeling that something was not right about River. The presence of pseudoephedrine in his system may suggest that River was suffering from a cold, but the autopsy reveals another possible reason for his ill health. Reports show that Diazepam was present in River's system. Diazepam is a drug that's more commonly known as Valium, and it's often prescribed by doctors to treat anxiety. When I look at the levels of the drug that are present in the body, it suggests that it could have been taken in the last 24 hours. Diazepam affects a level of a neurotransmitter in the brain called gamma-aminobutyric acid ` GABA for short ` and the change in the level of this chemical in the brain has a calming influence. Now, the Diazepam clearly wouldn't have caused River's death, but it does show that he may have been suffering from anxiety. (BREATHES SHAKILY) River Phoenix projected an image of a clean-living, healthy young man. But as his final hours ticked away, a combination of mood-altering prescription and hard-core class A drugs would prove that this was a man who was living life right on the edge... (BREATHES SHAKILY) ...up until his untimely death. Saturday 30th of October 1993. After six weeks filming his latest movie, Dark Blood, in the remote Utah desert, River Phoenix is back in Hollywood. TENSE MUSIC The previous day, he was struck down by a mystery illness; either a virus or a panic attack that left him convulsing and unable to function. He's already blown out one vital meeting with an A-list director for his next project. But this morning, he starts filming again. As he arrives on set, cast and crew notice that something's still not right. In the make-up, he usually would sit 10 minutes, and that day, I noticed that he was in the chair for an hour, dreaming. So there was a difference. He had taken something. One thing I noticed is the presence of marijuana in the urine, but not in the blood. Marijuana is cleared from the bloodstream relatively quickly, but remains in the tissues of the body for quite a long time and is cleared from the urine over that period. This means that River could've smoked the drug several days prior to his death. LIGHTER CLICKS He could not... see how` where the walls were. You know, he had to` he was misjudging distance. Marijuana contains a drug called tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC for short. When it's smoked, this drug passes into the lungs and from the lungs into the bloodstream, which carries it all over the body, including the brain. Once it reaches the brain, it has a direct effect on receptors, altering the way the brain works. The effects of cannabis lie on a spectrum. At one end, there can be calmness and happiness. At the other end, there can be paranoia and anxiety. One way of treating the paranoia and anxiety is to take a benzodiazepine drug like Valium. And we know from River's autopsy report that both Valium and cannabis were present in the bloodstream. And so taking these two drugs together, they may go some way to explaining the onset of anxiety and sweats that he'd had the day before he died. REFLECTIVE MUSIC Professionally, Stand By Me was his big breakthrough, so that obviously made him mature as an actor. But also, it's rumoured that's where he actually started to experiment with drink and drugs. In Stand By Me, River played Chris Chambers, a young boy from a dysfunctional family. For this role, he drew upon his own fractured and unconventional upbringing. River Phoenix grew up as a member of the notorious and controversial movement called the Children Of God. His family were part of the South American chapter in Venezuela, and they moved over 40 times during his childhood. He went through some really heavy things that` you know, like growing up in a free-love cult, and someone once asked him if he'd had a happy childhood, and he said, 'Happy? Well, it was interesting.' This bizarre cult created a highly sexualised atmosphere, allegedly brainwashing its members to indulge in a practice they called 'flirty fishing' that, according to former followers, is where females were encouraged to initiate sexual relations with non-members in order to win converts. There were lots of stories that came out from the sect, saying that children had been exploited, children had been sexually abused from very young ages. And at times when River had been interviewed, he alluded to this. There is probably that element that he witnessed of sexual abuse and also became very sexualised at a young age because of being part of this sect. But after five years of poverty on the road with the Children Of God, the Phoenix family moved back to the United States. River was 8 years old. He didn't have a normal regular upbringing. Where he did his greatest learning was through his acting, which introduced him to many different aspects of his character. So he could experiment with different sides of himself through that exploration. He could look at the dark side. 7pm, Nikko Hotel. River's finished filming and hooks up with his girlfriend, Samantha Mathis. Tomorrow is Sunday, and no filming is scheduled. Back in room 328, younger brother Joaquin and his sister Rain are waiting for him. Mwah! Little did they know that this would be the last night they would party with their older brother. As the evening kicked off, the others enjoyed vintage champagne. But not River. Looking at the toxicology report, despite the fact he was meant to have been partying, the blood alcohol is negative. River has decided to enjoy himself in a very different way. When he was at the hotel, he was taking drugs. I was in the room next door, so, you know, I just had to open the door, and I won't say it was all white, but it was lying all around. There is Valium and there is marijuana in his bloodstream, and there's also presence of a vast amount of another mind-altering drug. And that drug is cocaine. It's present at 11mg in his bloodstream, and there's 100mg in his stomach. And even for someone who is used to taking the drug, it would've had a considerable effect on his mental and physical state. Cocaine is one of the most dangerous drugs you can take because it alters the chemical structure of the brain. Cocaine interferes with the normal function of a chemical in the brain called dopamine. WHOOSHING Dopamine sits between two nerve cells and transmits signals between them. Cocaine stops the dopamine being reabsorbed back into the cells and results in overstimulation of those parts of the brain, and it results in euphoria, overconfidence and alertness. In the case of excessive use, it can actually damage the structure of the nerve cells. Cocaine doesn't just affect the brain; it has knock-on effects throughout the body. It increases blood pressure, it causes the heart rate to increase, sometimes to an effect where there's an abnormal rhythm and arrhythmia, and it can even progress to cardiac arrest. Keeping his drug use, uh, to himself was a way of not letting the people around him, especially his family, know everything that was going on. (SNORTS) Like any guy in his young 20s with a lot of money and some success, yeah, he had some fun, you know? Big frickin' deal. (SNIFFLES) It was two years before his death in 1991 that 21-year-old River allegedly started to use hard drugs when he was asked to play narcoleptic hustler Mike Waters in My Own Private Idaho, a visceral tale about two young men living on the streets of Portland on a journey of self-discovery. River was fast growing a reputation for completely immersing himself in his characters. Playing a rent boy for his role in My Own Private Idaho, he took on extracurricular research, which included getting up close and personal with some of the boys on the streets. River may have used acting and full immersion... as another way of exploring who he was. He may have seen this role, this research as giving him permission to try different things out. So for him, this meant experimenting with harder drugs. Well, you've heard the term 'method actor'. Um, I would say River, to some degree, was a method actor. He became the people that he was playing. (SNORTS) River was very good at masking when he took drugs and when he didn't. This was a very good actor, and I think he was very adept at putting on a front, and living behind that mask was something he'd done almost all his life. However, as the fame grew, the mask became harder to wear and did slip in this 1991 Dutch interview. River unquestionably wasn't the same well-mannered child star any more. You have the power to get, um, blowjobs, basically, from the corporate leaders. < MAN: Mm. I mean, I found myself, um, being blown by, uh,... America's film corporations. It's nice. < Yeah? Yeah. I come in their fucking lens. At around 10pm, the party in room 328 is in full flow. Joaquin and Rain, however, want to go to a new nightclub in town called The Viper Room. River's tired. But as Johnny Depp and Flea, now of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, are playing tonight, River decides to go along and see if he can jump on stage and jam. TENSE MUSIC But in just three hours, River Phoenix will be dead. DISSONANT CRUNCH Now only the autopsy can explain how that night ended so tragically. The toxicological analysis shows that River had taken marijuana sometime in the past. He had pseudoephedrine in his body, probably associated with the decongestant medication, and he'd recently taken Valium and cocaine. This is a dangerous mixture of uppers and downers. However, reports suggest that when he left his hotel, he appeared OK. So it's whatever happened in those last hours of his life that were to prove fatal. Director George Sluizer, arriving back at the hotel, bumps into River for the final time. And I said, 'Hey, River. See you tomorrow morning.' 'Yeah, see you. Bye.' So he was, you know, like, in a good mood. And we said hi-hi, bye-bye and see you tomorrow. And that was... the last. TENSE MUSIC Now with the help of the autopsy report, Dr Richard Shepherd has been investigating the last days and hours of River Phoenix's life. Externally, there were no abnormalities. Internally, there was no evidence of any natural disease. But we've seen the toxicology has shown us there were numerous drugs in his system. 12.27am. Hollywood nightclub The Viper Room. River spent Saturday on the set of his final movie, Dark Blood. Sunday's a day off, and he hits the town with his younger brother Joaquin, sister Rain and girlfriend, actress Samantha Mathis. But in just two hours' time, River Phoenix will be dead. BAND PLAYS ROCK MUSIC, CROWD CHATTERS The Viper Room scene, you know, sort of, circa 1993 was that Johnny Depp had bought this nightclub which was just a run-down little box of a room ` sort of, peanut shells on the ground ` and had remade it as, kind of, his own, like, hipster living room. So it wasn't really the centre of a musical scene; it was more the centre of a celebrity scene. Pleasant Gehman was in The Viper Room the night River died. It was Halloween, which is a really wild, insane time in any part of Hollywood, especially on Hollywood Boulevard and the Sunset Strip, because everybody is dressed up, and everybody is wasted by the hundreds. ROCK MUSIC It's now approximately 12.30am. River and his party are escorted to a private booth at the side of the stage. They settle down to watch his close friends Johnny Depp and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers hit the stage with Johnny's band, P. River has been playing guitar from the age of 4, often taking to the streets at an early age to earn money busking with his sister Rain for his penniless family. Watching his friends from the sidelines is hard for Phoenix. Having toured with his band, Aleka's Attic, River really wants the opportunity to show his hometown what he's made of. Many times, he said that music was his first love. He was a singer-songwriter musician with a damned good day job. TENSE MUSIC After the first song, River wanders up to his friend Flea and asks if he can join them. Unfortunately, Flea turns him down as there are too many musicians on the small stage. So River's hopes of jamming go out the window. He could've felt rejected and furious that he hadn't been allowed to play, and this may have, um, informed his next action, which would be, 'I'm just gonna get out of it.' That night was packed. There was hundreds and hundreds of people really drunk or really high, people already vomiting by the time I went into the club. SCREAMING, LAUGHTER 12.42am. It's the next 30 minutes which hold the key to River's death. But accounts of what actually happened vary wildly. TENSE MUSIC CONTINUES Some people say they saw River in the bathroom, snorting drugs in the cubicles. (SNORTS) The toxicology report shows there was over 8 micrograms per mil of cocaine circulating in the bloodstream. But it also shows there was over 100 micrograms still present in the stomach, waiting to be absorbed, and that suggests to me it's highly likely that he'd taken more of the drug whilst in the club. At this moment, some say they saw him downing a drink containing brown liquid from a shot glass. Page three of the autopsy report says there's over 200cc of dark fluid present in the stomach. But at this stage, I still don't know what it is. DISTORTED CONVERSATION Another remarked, 'His complete lack of motor skills made me think he was drunk.' We already know that River had no alcohol in his bloodstream, so he hadn't been downing alcoholic shots. But the autopsy report shows that he had taken another drug; the most dangerous illicit drug available on the streets ` heroin. Adding this to the vast amount of cocaine that he had already taken made a combination of drugs that was very likely to be lethal. 1 Hi. When it comes to running your home, there are always a few hidden costs, like water heating. It's about 30% of your energy bill. A lot of that is money down the drain. You could be wasting hundreds of dollars a year. Luckily, there are ways to save energy, but still have the hot water you need. Check the hot-water temperature of the tap. If it's more than 55 degrees, it's unsafe, and you could be using more energy than you need to. Here's a tip ` wrap your hot-water pipes. If you have an older electric cylinder, wrap that too. Showers and baths use the most hot water, so visit energywise.govt.nz for ways to make energy savings here. A dripping hot tap wastes energy. Heating water is a big part of our country's energy bill. If we all saved just 10%, we could save millions. See you next time. SIRENS WAIL Just before 1am, River has been inside The Viper Rooms for approximately 25 minutes. EERIE, DISTORTED TONE Witnesses report him looking ghostly pale and staggering like a boxer who'd taken too many shots to the head. Cocaine was still very expensive in those days. Heroin sort of just, like, crept in and exploded, because cocaine was for rich people, and heroin was kind of for everybody. GLASS CLINKS (RETCHES, SPLUTTERS) Back in his booth, River starts to vomit on himself and those around him. After that, he passes out and slumps at the table. I'm sure someone probably gave him cocaine to wake him up. TENSE MUSIC A few minutes later, he comes round and begins shaking uncontrollably. DOOR CLANKS River runs to the bathroom and is violently sick again. (RETCHES, VOMITS) There are, of course, many possible causes of vomiting and shaking. (BREATHES SHAKILY) But in this case, it's entirely consistent with an overdose and the drugs that he's taken overstimulating the part of the brain associated with the stomach and causing vomiting. CLANGING River is now shaking and convulsing at the bathroom sink. People were trying to give him water and revive him. And then I went away to try to find someone to be able to get him out of the hallway. He wasn't fully passed out, but he was very incoherent. The people he's with, uh, you know, are sort of panicked. They're hoping that they can just, like, get him out of the club, revive him, get him back to his hotel room, and it all had just been sort of a bad night, and that's the end of it. (PANTS) River's desperate to get out of the club and into the fresh air. His brother Joaquin and girlfriend, Samantha, drag him to the back door. DOOR CREAKS (COUGHS) Once outside, he crashes to the ground. I started to walk out on to the sidewalk and then literally stumbled over River Phoenix. I didn't even at first realise it was him, and I was, like, trying not to look, because I felt like I was violating some kind of privacy and not cos it was River Phoenix. It was just, like` It was a really poignant and odd moment. (CRIES) Samantha and Joaquin and Rain would make a phone call to a friend, like, 'Hey,' you know, 'River's in bad shape. Come help us out.' And then River starts having seizures. River! (SOBS) A seizure is a sign that the brain is under extreme stress. The hundred billion neurons responsible for the control of the body are short-circuiting. It's just like an electrical storm. Random, uncontrolled nerve impulses are being passed to the muscles, causing them to spasm. In this case, that would explain the violent seizures that were reported by eyewitnesses at the scene. SCREAMING, RETCHING (GURGLES, CHOKES) River is on the sidewalk, but most people don't know it's River. He doesn't look like himself; he's, uh, very pale, so a lot of people just think it's just one more night in Hollywood where somebody's, like, having a drug problem on the sidewalk. River has now been enduring seizures for eight minutes, each lasting 20 seconds as he smashes his head and knuckles against the sidewalk. But for his friends, this at least is a sign he is fighting for his life. They were just trying to settle him down, you know, uh, but it becomes clear that he's in really bad shape. Finally, after nine minutes outside The Viper Room, River's brother Joaquin runs to the pay phone down the street and calls 911. River has now been on the pavement for 13 minutes. Paramedics arrive only four minutes after the 911 call, just as River's seizures stop. Paramedics, and there was, like, a mask on his face. WOMAN CRIES, OXYGEN PUMPS I walked a few paces and I` and I stood there watching it, and it was horrifying. I'd never really seen anybody get resuscitated in real life. It just, like, all sort of swirled into, like, 'This is a really, really, really bad night.' OXYGEN PUMPS 1.31am. Paramedics have been working on River for around 70 minutes, trying desperately to save his life. Like, that weird slow-motion, car accident, crisis moment. As I seem to remember, his eyes opened. They get him in the back of the ambulance and leave for the 1-mile drive to Cedars-Sinai Hospital. SIREN WHOOPS SOLEMN MUSIC 1.51am. Despite all attempts, River Phoenix is officially pronounced dead. I woke up to our guitar player, Eric, showing up and saying that he was on his way to work and he heard on the radio that River died. An investigation is underway into the sudden death of one of Hollywood's brightest young stars. 23-year-old River Phoenix collapsed outside a Los Angeles nightclub early this morning. An autopsy is planned tomorrow. I had a call at, I think, 3 o'clock in the morning, roughly, from the agent of River. And she said, in tears, that River had died. And I really didn't gather it because I think I was dreaming. REPORTER: The 23-year-old actor collapsed outside a West Hollywood club early Sunday and died. Since then, fans and friends have been leaving tributes at the site. And then I really realised that he had died; uh, that it was all over. So that was obviously,... uh, a big shock. FEMALE REPORTER: His death at the age of 23 is shrouded in mystery. River was my brother,... and I cherish every moment with him. And... I wish he was still here. He was a freak of nature. And I say freak in the most healthy way, in the most good way. TENSE MUSIC The levels of drugs found in River's system were no higher than an experienced drug user would be used to taking, so why did they kill River Phoenix that night? Hidden away in the toxicology report is a surprising revelation which I think is the final key to the puzzle of the events surrounding his death. At 23, River Phoenix was one of Hollywood's rising stars. After bursting on to the big screen in the critically acclaimed 1986 teen blockbuster Stand By Me, Phoenix already had an Oscar nomination to his credit. Now seven years later, River was maturing into one of cinema's great actors. After being away from LA filming his latest movie, Dark Blood, River had been back in California for five days. But on the 31st of October 1993, after a night out at Johnny Depp's infamous nightclub, The Viper Room, with his brother Joaquin, sister Rain and actress girlfriend, Samantha Mathis, River Phoenix collapsed on the pavement of Sunset Boulevard and died. Expert pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd has been examining the facts within the autopsy to try and unravel the events of that fateful night. The timeline of River's last night is somewhat hazy, as all of the eyewitnesses tell different stories about what he took and when. It's the autopsy report that can give us the actual sequence of events. We have here 23-year-old River Phoenix, who projects to the world a healthy and wholesome lifestyle. But the autopsy report tells a different story. It paints a picture of a man who, on his last night, had taken several recreational and prescription drugs. As well as the cocaine, heroin and all of the drugs that we know he was taking, the autopsy report also shows he was taking a further drug, a drug that has now been banned in the US and Europe because it's potentially dangerous by causing abnormal cardiac rhythms. That drug is called propoxyphene, and it was sold commonly as a painkiller until the risks were known. It was also discovered that propoxyphene was even more dangerous when taken with sedative drugs like Valium, and the combination of the two made it potentially lethal. And we know that River was taking Valium that night. However, when I look again at the original toxicology report, something just doesn't add up. I can see against the name propoxyphene are the initials ND, meaning not detected. As a pathologist, I will always defer to the toxicologist's analysis, cos these are solid laboratory facts that are set out very clearly. But it seems in this case, there's a mistake in the autopsy report and the propoxyphene shouldn't have been included. We now have to look at the quantities of drugs that were present in River's system. And by looking at the combination of the drugs, two immediately stand out as being potentially lethal, and that's the combination of heroin and cocaine. Mixing those two drugs together produces what's commonly called a speedball. Speedballs were really popular in those days. I never experienced that,... CHUCKLES: and I don't really regret that I never experienced it. He had a spirit of adventure that would, you know, sort of say, 'Sure, I'll try that. 'Sure, if you say this'll make me feel fabulous, I'll take it.' For those who have experienced speedballing and survived, it was the ultimate devastating thrill. The whole experience is that the` the very first shot is the cocaine you feel, and it shoots you right off the floor like a rocket being launched. (PANTS) Oh fuck. It takes you up really, really, really high. You're not there for long, and it could only be described as an amazing feeling. That's why it's highly addictive. Then slowly, it will bring you down. But the heroin's there to` to comfort you, to give you a soft landing, rather than just crashing into the concrete floor. Speedballs are usually taken via a needle into the arm. The autopsy does show that there are four injection marks on River's body. Three of these are absolutely classic for resuscitation by the paramedics and by the emergency department. But the fourth requires some closer forensic investigation. We know that River was left-handed, and so the injection side in the crook of his right arm could've been self-administered. However, the toxicology report shows there's such a large amount of heroin in the stomach, it could not have got there from an injection. There was no evidence of any drugs or drug paraphernalia at the club, and so although initially suspicious, I am in no doubt that this injection mark was also part of the resuscitation process. LIGHTER CLICKS This meant River must've taken the heroin orally or through the nose. However, there was no evidence of damage to the septum of the nose which cocaine and heroin could've caused, and the lungs were essentially clear. So he didn't smoke it, and he didn't snort it. River was a very social drug user. So there were a lot of people he took drugs with because he was not somebody whose primary concern was, you know, like, 'I wanna just, like, go get messed up.' It was often for him, uh, 'I'm looking for somebody to do coke with so I can stay up all night and talk about it,' or, 'I'm looking to have this social experience.' The people who had drug experience with River said that, like, even when he was doing these things that were not good for himself, um, that there was, like, kind of, still an inner light to him and that he was still just a, kind of, like, warm, genuine person. River's spirit of adventure, alongside his willingness for new experiences, might go some way to explaining what happened next. If we cast our minds back to what River did that night, we know that he drank no alcohol, and so the only explanation for the dark brown fluid he drank in The Viper Room was that it contained diacetylmorphine ` or heroin. Taking heroin and cocaine together is like driving with one foot hard on the accelerator whilst the other foot is hard on the brake. When River arrived at the club that night, the cocaine in his bloodstream was stimulating his fight-or-flight response. It was making his heart beat very fast. Taking the heroin would've had exactly the opposite effect. It would've caused rest and relaxation and caused his heart to slow down. The result of the clash of these drugs is that the heart effectively goes into toxic shock. It beats erratically and causes people to feel extremely unwell. Another effect of the drugs is to cause vomiting, which explains why River threw up so quickly. (RETCHES) As the two drugs course through the bloodstream, they reach the brain and cause overstimulation of the neurotransmitters and the nerves, resulting in convulsions. (COUGHS, RETCHES) Finally, as River's stomach continues to absorb the heroin, more and more gets into the bloodstream. It stimulates and overstimulates the muscle of the heart, causing it to beat erratically. And eventually it causes it to stop... RAPID BEATING ...as a cardiac arrest, and he dies. But there's one other element that is the key to River losing his life. He'd been away in the mountains filming for six weeks and had, by all accounts, been drug-free during that period. People who take drugs like heroin and cocaine become tolerant of them; they need to take more and more of the drug to achieve the same effect. But that tolerance is lost very quickly during a period of abstinence. And so when he returned to Los Angeles after six weeks of abstinence filming in the mountains, if he took the same amount of the same drug expecting the same effect, he was going to be mistaken. Those drugs were then lethal, and I think that's what caused River's death. DRAMATIC MUSIC I think a lot of people took a really long, hard look at their drug use after that. I think his death marked the community a lot, probably for the better. You know, a lot of people got clean after that or at least made the first steps towards getting so. Part of not knowing who he was is part of River's story, you know? He's trying to find out who he was. And his life was abruptly,... tragically cut short. I think River would've ended up being one of our great actors ` the physical beauty, the craft, the willingness to throw himself into a part. And he had the desire to, you know, sort of, like, not just make, like, popcorn movies, but to, like, make great art. The way I put it is, he made a major wave on this planet. I would like for people to remember him as this amazing, beautiful character. River Phoenix played Russian roulette with two bullets in the gun, and he lost. DRAMATIC MUSIC