Family of Woman Who OD’d Sues Busch Heir

CLAYTON, Mo. (CN) - August Busch IV, one-time CEO of Anheuser Busch, faces a wrongful death suit from the ex-husband of a young woman found dead in Busch's mansion this past winter.

Dr. Kevin Martin claims Busch's negligence caused the death of Adrienne Martin, 27, who was Busch's girlfriend.

Adrienne found dead on Dec. 19. Her ex-husband filed the suit in St. Louis County Court, seeking unspecified damages, on behalf his and Adrienne's 8-year-old son, Blake.

Authorities ruled Adrienne's death an accident, and an autopsy put her cause of death as an overdose of the painkiller oxycodone. Officials also said that she had a lethal level of cocaine in her blood.

Both parties have immediately obtained a judge's order to move the case to Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court. Kevin Martin lives and practices osteopathic medicine in Cape Girardeau, 120 miles south of St. Louis.

Adrienne's mother, Christine Trampler, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that she plans to intervene in the lawsuit because she fears her ex-son-in-law has a friendship with Busch that could affect the outcome for her grandson, Blake.

Trampler added that she is seeking custody of Blake and wants the court to appoint an independent legal guardian for the wrongful death suit.

Busch, 46, was the chief executive of Anheuser-Busch before it was sold to InBev in 2008. Busch, who earned $100 million from the sale, is no stranger to a death controversy. As a college student in 1983, Busch had crashed his car in Tucson, Ariz., and his companion, Michele Frederick, 22, was killed in the accident.

Police reportedly found Busch, disoriented and suffering from a skull fracture, at his home hours after the crash. An autopsy reportedly showed that Frederick had cocaine in her system. No charges were filed in that case.

The Martins are represented by John Heisserer, with Rice, Spaeth, Summers & Heisserer, in Cape Girardeau.

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