Uganda

Contaminated cocaine was responsible for the death of American television producer Jeff Rice whose body was found on a hotel balcony in Uganda, police and private investigators said yesterday.

Father-of-two Rice, 39, who worked on the series The Amazing Race, was discovered slumped over a table bleeding from his nose and mouth at the Serena hotel in the capital, Kampala.

His assistant Kathryne Fuller was found lying next to him. She has now regained consciousness but is paralysed down the right hand side of her body.

She is recovering in hospital but is being held in Uganda until police determine if she has committed drugs offences.

An official toxicology report confirmed the narcotic was in Jeff Rice’s blood, dispelling initial suspicions the father-of-two known for his work on the U.S. show 'The Amazing Race,' had been poisoned by attackers.

Police say a quantity of heroin was also discovered in the hotel room and they have arrested a local dealer who they suspect to have supplied the drugs.

Uganda police spokesperson Asuman Mugenyi said: 'Rice … used cocaine which had lethal additives and that’s what killed him.'

Brad Nathanson, a private investigator and friend of Rice, said he had been shown the toxicology report by police and there was no evidence of 'foul play' in Rice’s death.

He said: 'In fact it was as a result of buying bad drugs, cocaine to be specific … it was a bad concoction.'

'I have read the toxicology report … it shows that there were small traces of cocaine in their blood and urine.'

Mr Nathanson said he had travelled to Uganda as a friend of the Rice family following rumours he had been poisoned, and not for payme


Rice’s assistant, identified by police as Kathryne Fuller, was found unconscious at the same time Rice’s body was discovered

Ugandan police said on Saturday they had arrested a man who confessed selling drugs to the pair who had been in the east African country working on a documentary.

Fuller’s father said he was 'disappointed, sad' but would support his daughter, a South African.'

'We all do stupid things in life. Unfortunately this is a large mistake but we can’t exactly crucify her,' Stewart Fuller said.

Rice and Fuller were believed to have voluntarily consumed the drugs, meaning Fuller could be prosecuted under Uganda’s drug laws. Drug use can carry a jail term in Uganda.

As well as the Amazing Race, Rice also worked on Animal Planet's Whale Wars and the South African version of The Biggest Loser.

He is survived by daughters, ages 2 and 7.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2106634/Amazing-Race-producer-died-bad-cocaine-Uganda-left-assistant-semi-paralysed.html#ixzz1nUeoZnnp