Addiction's depths — and deaths

Whether Joey really did simply want a fresh start or if he had other reasons for transferring schools, Michael never really found out.

In December, Joey Doron was deeply affected by the death of Kali Breisch, one of his closest friends. Breisch, a sophomore at Skyline, was swept away from a beachside bungalow by the giant tsunami that hit Thailand on December 26, 2004.

"He was in denial. He thought they would find her," Michael Doron said.

After a weeklong search, Breisch's body was found by her family in a morgue waiting to be identified.

In addition to Breisch, Joey lost four other friends in a car accident and a hiking accident.

According to Joey's friends to whom Michael talked after his son's death, it was after these tragedies, about last February, that Joey slipped into heavy drug use. His grades had sunk to a new low, as did his behavior.

Police were called again to the Doron house in April when Michael said his son swung a metal pipe at him. It was then that one of the responding officers suggested to Michael that his son might be on drugs.

By this point Doron said he felt completely helpless. Joey had "slipped under the radar" because he had not been caught red-handed with drugs or busted at any time by police, Michael Doron said.

Joey stayed in juvenile detention for eight days and then was released to the custody of his parents for house arrest. While in the custody of his parents he received frequent drug tests and counseling.

Undetected drugs

This apparently still did not deter Joey's drug use.

Eighteen days after he was sent to juvenile detention, Joey overdosed on drugs and was taken to Primary Children's Medical Center, where he was revived and treated for a little less than a week.

"I told people he's going to be dead or in jail before he's 18," Michael Doron said.

Doron sent his son to the University of Utah's Neuropsychiatric Unit for a week after he was released from Primary Children's. From that point he thought things were finally improving.

The good days seemed to outnumber the bad. Joey was doing well with his community service, working at an autism school. On his last day at the school, Michael bought his son a book, "Animals in Translation — Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior," and on the inside page wrote that he was "proud of you and your volunteer work."

But in reality, Doron believes his son had learned how to use heroin and not have it detected in drug tests.

On July 1, 2005, Michael allowed Joey to go with some of his friends to Snowbird. He got home before curfew that evening.

"He seemed fine. His eyes looked fine," Doron said.