Andrew Koppel died from heroin, cocaine, Valium and alcohol

40-year-old Andrew Koppel, son of Nightline host Ted Koppel, was found dead in an upper Manhattan apartment early on the morning of June 1 after a reported day-long drinking binge. At the time there was no indication that Koppel had taken any drugs in combination with his alcohol consumption. From our June 1 article detailing Koppel’s activities the day before his death:

The New York Post spoke with 32-year-old waiter Russell Wimberly, who had met Koppel, 40, yesterday at a Hell’s Kitchen bar and spent the day bar-hopping and drinking. “There was a lot of alcohol. He didn’t take anything else [drugs] around me, and neither of us ate all day,” he told the paper.

In a shocking announcement earlier today, the New York City medical examiner revealed that Andrew Koppel had a combination of prescription and illegal drugs in his system in addition to the alcohol. He lists the official cause of death as acute intoxication from the combined effects of alcohol, heroin, cocaine and the generic form of the painkiller Valium.

Koppel, who resigned as an attorney for the New York City Housing Authority’s civil litigation division in 2008, was living with his girlfriend and their daughter in Rockaway Park, Queens. He was the third child of Ted and Grace Anne Koppel and the only son. He had a history of alcohol abuse, that included a conviction for an intoxicated assault in 1993. CLICK HERE to read more about Andrew Koppel’s troubled past and the all day drinking and drugging marathon that would eventually take his life.