194: Heroin's Toll

• William Henry Moore, 66, was the first person to die of a heroin overdose in 2013. An insulin-dependent diabetic and father of three, he died in his home Jan. 3

• Richard Allen McCoy Jr., a 58-year-old married independent contractor, overdosed on heroin Jan. 12.

• Frank Allen Worster, Jan. 14 

• Michele Pauley, Jan. 18

• Machinist and welder Patrick Lee Irvine, a 47-year-old Cleveland resident who attended Maplewood Career Center in Ravenna, mixed a lethal dose of heroin with cocaine, clonazepam, mirtazapine, paroxetine and tramadol Jan. 25 and died inside his West 193rd Street home.

• An avid basketball player, John Michael Chastain, 25, was raised in North Ridgeville and lived in Brook Park. The single man worked as a machine operator. He died Jan. 30.

FEBRUARY

• Robert Russell Ortscheid, 55, had six children - five girls and one boy, named for his father - and nine grandchildren, whom he adored. He rooted for the Cleveland Browns with ferocity. Ortscheid died Feb. 2 after mixing heroin with cocaine, alcohol and oxycodone.

• Three young girls called Brandon J. Best "dad." The 30-year-old Middleburg Heights man, who worked to install and repair heating and air conditioning systems, died Feb. 5 after mixing heroin and alcohol.

• Matthew Joseph Ciasullo, 44, was one of seven boys. The single laborer, who had a son of his own, died Feb. 8.

• "Happy Valentine's Day, sweetheart," wrote Erica Lynn Roach's aunt on an online condolences forum. "It's been a year since your wake, the last time I saw your face." The 21-year-old Parma mother of two died Feb. 8.

• A Bedford Heights resident, Robert Phillip Dittrich, 48, worked as a machinist and bolt maker. He died in his apartment Feb. 10 after taking heroin.

• William Reichle, Feb. 13

• Gary E. Dixon was married to his wife for 35 years. Together, they had two children and one grandchild, who called him "papa." The 57-year-old lived in Rocky River, where he graduated high school in 1973. Dixon loved the water, spending his time fishing and boating. He died Feb. 15.

• Andrea Maria Rinicella, Feb. 18

• Scott Fredrick Sharaba died Feb. 22. The 49-year-old Cleveland area carpenter had two children.

• A widow, Phyllis Renee Emig died after mixing Valium and heroin Feb. 23. The 49-year-old lived in Cleveland but was found in Warrensville Heights.

• Raymond L. Hinkle, 42, worked as a machine operator and lived in Maple Heights. On Feb. 23, he died after taking a dose of heroin and Wellbutrin, an antidepression and smoking cessation drug. 

MARCH

• A combination of an amphetamine, cocaine and heroin killed Tisha Renee Truman, 37, March 1. The housekeeper was found in her West 130th Street home.

• Gordon Renault Bordeaux, 61, worked as a drug counselor. The Lakewood resident died after mixing alcohol with heroin March 2.

• Chelsea Rowe Vinton, March 2

• Nicholas Robert Lennert worked in sales, lived in Parma and had a wife and daughter. On the day he died, March 3, the 33-year-old took heroin, an antihistamine and drank alcohol. He was found in his home.

• John Michael King's obituary had just two lines: "John passed away in March 2013. John was a resident of Cleveland, Ohio." The 53-year-old died March 3 and was found inside his West 52nd Street apartment.

• "A dear friend, Deborah Kravec, overdosed and died earlier today. This disease is not a joke. Take it seriously. Stop dying and start living," the Heroin Anonymous Cleveland Intergroup Council posted to its Facebook page March 4. Kravec, 48, worked as a server.

• Forty-five-year-old Miguel Torres, a laborer who lived along Clark Avenue, died from a dose of cocaine, heroin and alcohol March 5.

• Steve Teleky was found March 5 somewhere in or outside of the West 117th Street plaza that holds a Target, Giant Eagle and GetGo gas station. The 59-year-old had washed heroin down with alcohol that day.

• Glen Bruce Jerman Jr. lived a mile and a half from John Michael King on West 52nd Street and died just four days after him. Jerman, 26, took heroin, Valium, oxycodone and tramadol March 7.

• Rose Whitsell, 40, lived in Cleveland. She was found in a Parma Heights apartment after mixing heroin, alcohol and an antihistamine. She died on March 9.

• Divorced and just 27, Kevin P. Kolesar Jr. died March 9 from a combination of heroin, cocaine and Xanax. The Parma Heights resident was found in his apartment.

• An overuse of heroin caused Michael C. Phillips, 28, of North Olmsted to contract bronchopneumonia. He died March 10. The cook had a son.

• Janet E. Gartin had two sons, a daughter and four grandchildren. The 52-year-old married homemaker mixed cocaine and heroin March 10 and died at her Cleveland home.

• Fifty-eight-year-old Adrian Louise Patterson took a combination of cocaine and heroin March 14. She was found in her East 156th Street apartment.

• Jesse Andrew Basch, a single 36-year-old man who lived in North Royalton and worked as a monitor, died on March 14 in Parma.

• Lloyd Compton, 48, of Olmsted Township, was found on the third floor of a home on West 104th Street March 16.

• Gregory Cerne, March 17

• Wahdan Arfat Wahdan, 44, worked as a store clerk and lived on West 44th Street with his wife. He died March 20.

• One of seven siblings, William Allen Gress, 42, worked as a plumber and lived on Denison Avenue. He mixed heroin with alcohol and nordiazepam March 21.

• Laborer Michael Richard Underwood Jr., 35, of Garfield Heights, died March 22 after he mixed heroin with alcohol.

• Alan David Avery, 54, was found March 25 in his Wheelock Road home in Cleveland, which he shared with his wife. He had taken a fatal dose of heroin and cocaine.

• Justin Michael Givens, 31, had a broad, bald look in the photo that his family - a mother, four siblings, four nieces and nephews, and grandmother - chose for his obituary. The Cleveland resident died March 25 after combining heroin with alcohol.

• Carl J. May mixed several drugs, including oxycodone and amphetamine, with heroin March 28. The 52-year-old married North Royalton man was found in Euclid.

• After taking heroin, methadone, an antihistamine and alcohol, Francis G. McMullen Jr.died March 30. A 56-year-old window washer from Rocky River, McMullen had a son.  

• Brian Kent Powell, 45, was a city planner. He injected a lethal dose of heroin April 1. The single man was found in his home on Cleveland's Gramatan Avenue.

• In condolences left on an online guest book, friends called Ronald Morrow Sr., 57, "Ron-Ron." Morrow, of South Euclid, worked in patient transport. He was found in Mayfield Heights April 1 after taking heroin and hydrocodone.

• Diana L. Benefield, 59, was divorced, worked as a nursing aide and lived in an apartment on East 71st Street. She died April 4.

• Sean Charles Asad had two children with his ex-wife. The 44-year-old Wickliffe resident worked as a drywall finisher. He died from heroin and alcohol April 4.

• Edward Brian McFaul, 25, had a daughter and six nieces and nephews. The Euclid resident, a laborer, died April 6.

• Marvin Perry Sr., a laborer, died April 13. The 56-year-old had two sons and lived on East 142nd Street.

• For four years, Robert Zerun Manashian tried to beat his addiction with support from family and friends. A drummer in a garage band who enjoyed concerts, Browns games and camping, the 28-year-old from a family of five children died April 17 in Cleveland.

• Richard Rivera, a 51-year-old electrician, had a daughter and a son. The divorced man and Cleveland resident died April 30.

• Construction worker Ralph Douglas Buckwald died after taking heroin, cocaine and oxycodone May 3. A resident of Columbia Station, he was 47.

• Michael David Salo, 24, mixed heroin with cocaine, PCP, tramadol and Valium May 4. The roofer was found at his Brooklyn Avenue home.

• Ariel Diane McCristall, a 21-year-old waitress from Columbia Station, took heroin and drank alcohol, then nearly drowned. She later died, May 4, from complications. McCristall was one of nine brothers and sisters.

• "You've been set free from the pain and hell of this life," a poster on Melissa Martin's online condolences board wrote. The 45-year-old single machinist and resident of Parma died May 5 after taking heroin, Valium and three other drugs.

• Angelo B. Picciano, 37, worked as a computerized machine operator. He lived on Detroit Avenue in Cleveland, where he was found May 5 after taking heroin.

• Melissa Rae Koppel, May 9

• William Daniel Davis was one of seven children and had five of his own. The 55-year-old Cleveland plumber had a record of cocaine abuse before he overdosed on heroin and alcohol May 12.

• David Lynn Graves, 59, had one son, whom he named after himself. On May 16, he died after taking heroin, Valium, alcohol, amitriptyline and tramadol.

• Michelle Lee Pfouts, a graduate of Canton South High School who lived in Canton, suffered pancreatitis and organ failure May 16 after she abused heroin and alcohol. The 25-year-old was known for adopting stray animals in her neighborhood and once tried to feed raccoons by hand on a family vacation in Canada.

• The day he died, May 17, Robert Lee Williams mixed heroin with cocaine and alcohol. He was 50 years old.

• Twenty-eight-year-old Benjamin John Nannfeldt was one of seven children. The Hinckley resident mixed heroin with alcohol and died May 21.

• Keith Wollf, 46, died on the last day of May. A resident of Cleveland, he was found in a hotel on Lakeside Avenue.  

• Tyler F. Flynn sports a lumberjack's beard in the photo his family selected for his obituary. The 33-year-old carpenter lived in Avon Lake. He died June 2.

• Raymond Alvin Williams II, 61, abused cocaine before turning to heroin. He died June 3 in his Cleveland apartment.

• Jill Sue Guy took heroin, cocaine and clonazepam, a sedative and muscle relaxant, June 7 and died. A nurse, the 48-year-old had three daughters and nine grandchildren.

• A tool and die maker, Robert Joseph Eggers, 47, lived in Brooklyn and was found at his Springwood Drive home June 8 after he took heroin and Valium.

• Ida Castrejon went into septic shock brought on by chronic intravenous heroin use. The 51-year-old divorced homemaker died June 8.

• Friends and family called Dawn Ann Zimmerman "Minnie." The 28-year-old Cleveland woman had three children. She died June 9 after taking heroin and cocaine.

• Daniel M. Sefsic, 51, was a former salesman at Buckeye Business Products. He was found by his sister, Bridget Peterson, in their Broadview Heights apartment on the morning of June 11. He died from the combined effects of Xanax, oxycodone and heroin.

• A garage door repairman, Chad Edward Richendollar, 28, graduated summa cum laude from Cleveland State University with a bachelor's degree in education. The avid soccer player and brother of three died June 14 at his Clifton Boulevard home.

• Kevin Thomas Hofer aided Cleveland's Animal Protective League by regularly fostering puppies and dogs. The 26-year-old lived in North Olmsted and worked as a stock person. He died June 14 after mixing heroin with alcohol.

• Amy Beth Berger, 41, a divorced bookkeeper from Cleveland, died June 18 after taking heroin and amitriptyline, an antidepressant.

• Lonnie Bell, a 55-year-old welder, lived and died on the same street as Tara Kwai Martin and Daniel Clint Barnes Jr. — Edna Avenue. He took heroin, cocaine and alcohol June 18.

• Rachel Smyczek, a truck loader who lived in Independence, drowned June 23 after taking heroin and oxycodone. She was 22.

• Rosalyn Anna Rollins had a son who died before she did and a surviving daughter. The 36-year-old veterinary technician from Cleveland died June 25 in Euclid.

• Philip Rumann, 53, a Cleveland window washer, died June 26 after mixing heroin and alcohol.

• A graduate of St. Ignatius High School who attended Borremeo Seminary and John Carroll University, Christopher Lawrence McDonald worked as an insurance analyst. The 37-year-old lived in Cleveland and grew up in Avon Lake. He died June 26 after taking heroin.

• Brandon Rainer Bertulies, 25, had a daughter and worked as a laborer. The single man from Brook Park died June 29 after taking heroin, an antihistamine and Xanax.

• After 25-year-old Randy William Stock died June 29, his family established the Randy Stock Substance Abuse Prevention Memorial Fund. He died from brain injuries due to lack of oxygen caused by a heroin overdose.

• Angela Marie Karecki, 36, had two children - a boy and a girl. She lived in Parma and worked as a dental assistant. She died June 29 after taking heroin and alcohol.

• April Lynn Gamble drowned June 30 after taking heroin, cocaine, tramadol and two antidepressants. She was 47 years old and had three children.

• Karrie Dendler, 38, lived in Parma Heights, had one daughter and a passion for music and disc golf. The food and beverage manager died June 30 after taking heroin, Valium, alcohol and an antihistamine.

• Ryan Thomas Johnson struggled with drug addiction for 10 years. When he died July 2 of an overdose on heroin, Xanax, Valium and buprenorphine, a drug used to treat opiate addiction, he was 24 years old. Johnson graduated in 2006 from Elyria High School. He played the guitar and was a member of Alcoholics Anonymous.

• Thirty-six-year-old Cleveland resident Edgar Galarza mixed heroin with alcohol and died July 2.

• A divorced mother of three, Andrea Morgan Martin was 26 years old when she died July 3. On that day, she took heroin and Xanax. She was found at her Middleburg Heights home.

• Justin L. Dian, 30, of Cleveland, took heroin, Xanax, oxycodone, Valium and cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxant, and died July 3.

• Bonnie Worthy, a 58-year-old single woman who worked in environmental service, died July 7 after taking heroin, cocaine, an antidepressant and a sedative.

• Blake Bingham, 29, worked in a factory and lived in Youngstown. On July 8 he died after taking heroin, cocaine, Valium and oxycodone.

• Charles Wesley Williams Sr. shared a home in Cleveland with his adult son, daughter-in-law and five grandchildren. The 66-year-old was born in Alabama, but moved to Northeast Ohio as a child with his mother. Along with his son, Williams enjoyed playing chess, pool and fishing. He died in his home July 8 after taking heroin and alcohol.

• Though she lived in Cleveland, Laura Ann Schwanger worked for the Moccasin-Bend Mental Institute in Tennessee. A 51-year-old mother of three, she died July 11 in the Louis Stokes VA Memorial Hospital after going into cardiac arrest and enduring brain damage from taking heroin and alcohol.

• Heather Nicole Krupp had a cat named Kit-Kat. The 21-year-old Lakewood woman enjoyed scrapbooking. She died July 13 after taking heroin and cocaine.

• Joseph A. Passafiume died July 13 after taking heroin, alcohol, a muscle relaxer and an antidepressant. The 47-year-old was found at his West 115th Street home.

• She lived in Fort Pierce, Florida, but 37-year-old Elizabeth Milagro Rodriguez took heroin and died at an address on Lake Avenue in Lakewood July 16.

• Thomas Robert Baer, 41, worked as a sales manager, lived in Broadview Heights and had two children. He died July 24 after taking heroin, cocaine and alcohol.

• Vicki Jane Manns, 57, was born in Columbus and lived in Cleveland. The mother of four grown children, two boys and two girls, worked as a waitress. She died July 24 after taking heroin and methadone.

• Cleveland resident Michael A. Haynes contracted bronchopneumonia from heroin intoxication and died July 24. He was 45 years old.

• A graduate of Berkshire High School in Burton, 26-year-old Christopher Newport served as a cadet on the Burton Volunteer Fire Department. He was found July 26 on Edgewater Drive in Lakewood after taking heroin.

• Gregory Michael Kerr worked as a chef and lived in Cleveland. The 37-year-old single man died July 26 after taking heroin.

• An assembly man, Paul Franklin Arnica, 31, of North Royalton, took heroin and Valium July 30 and died. He was found at his home.

• Carmen Minardi, a 46-year-old divorced delivery driver, lived on Cleveland's West Side. On the first day of August, he died after mixing heroin and alcohol.

• Forty-seven-year-old Mary Elizabeth Artez died after taking heroin, cocaine and alcohol on Aug. 3.

• Aline Guyton, 56, was divorced and lived in Cleveland. She took heroin, cocaine and amitriptyline, an antidepressant, Aug. 5 and was found at her Soika Avenue home.

• Michael Corcoran, 26, graduated cum laude from Ohio State University with a degree in biochemistry and worked in medical research. He died after mixing heroin with four other drugs, including Xanax and gabapentin, used to treat epilepsy and nerve pain, Aug. 5.

• Megan Strohm, a 31-year-old married mother of five children, died Aug. 8 after she took heroin with an antidepressant. She lived in Cleveland and worked as a waitress.

• A resident of Euclid, Joseph Michael Farone died at his Shirley Avenue home Aug. 8 of a heroin overdose.

• Derrick Bradley, 61, worked as a teacher and lived on Carnegie Avenue in Cleveland. He died Aug. 10 after taking heroin and cocaine.

• Kimberly Maxine Reardon, who worked as a certified nursing assistant, died Aug. 12 after taking heroin and Valium. The 29-year-old was the mother of two children.

• An electrician, Gregory Skiba, 47, lived in Mayfield Heights. He died Aug. 16 after taking heroin and alcohol.

• Tony Michael Krivdo died Aug. 16 after taking heroin, cocaine and alcohol. A 58-year-old widower, he lived in Euclid.

• Timothy Joseph Feik was named for his father and called "TJ" by friends and family. The 33-year-old single Parma man died after taking heroin Aug. 17.

• Robert E. Pinyan, a 53-year-old Cleveland man who worked in manufacturing, died Aug. 18 after taking heroin, Valium and alcohol.

• A 40-year-old married chef who lived in Shaker Heights, Mamadou Aliou Diallo died Aug. 18 after taking heroin and alcohol.

• Brenton H. Jones, 29, worked as a laborer. He died of a heroin overdose Aug. 20.

• Called "Frankie" by friends and family, Francis Joseph Kennedy III used heroin Aug. 24 and died. The 25-year-old worked in risk management and lived in Cleveland.

• Niles Eugene Tuttle, 60, died in his Lake Avenue home of a heroin overdose Aug. 24.

• Andrew Timothy Baca, 36, died of a heroin overdose Aug. 26, the same day his daughter started seventh grade.

• A mechanic and father of four, Daniel Thomas Corcoran Jr., 31, died Aug. 28 from severe brain damage and a heart attack due to heroin intoxication.

• Robert "Bob" Schreiber was one of eight children. The 25-year-old bartender lived in Lyndhurst and died Aug. 29 after taking heroin and alcohol.

• Louis L. Detore, 36, died Sept. 2 from a heroin overdose. Detore, of Parma, had worked in home restoration.

• A 39-year-old divorced woman who worked as a welder and lived in Cleveland, Christina Howard died Sept. 6 after mixing heroin and alcohol.

• Nawassa Baldwin, 57, a single Cleveland resident, died Sept. 9 of a heroin overdose.

• Cameron L. Burns, a 52-year-old divorced roofer who lived in Olmsted Township, took heroin, Valium and hydrocodone and died Sept. 11.

• Demetrius Dye died Sept. 15 when he mixed heroin with cocaine and hydrocodone. The 54-year-old laborer lived in Cleveland.

• Found at her Brighton Avenue home, Charlene Marie Webb, 53, died Sept. 18. That day, she took heroin, cocaine and an antidepressant.

• Jamie Elizabeth Dysert, of Claridon Township, was found in a Willoughby Hills apartment after taking heroin. The 29-year-old mother of two died Sept. 19 at University Hospitals Richmond Medical Center.

• Oliver Dean Vaccher was the father of two sons, one who died before him. The 53-year-old master mechanic took heroin, alcohol and four other drugs Sept. 19. He had a dog named Daisy.

• Yvonne N. Frymier, 32, of Richfield Township, died Sept. 20 from a combination of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.

• Gregory Snyder had seven brothers, four children and 10 grandchildren. The 62-year-old divorced cement mason overdosed on heroine and methadone Sept. 27.

• Forty-year-old Paul Popka preferred to go by his middle name, Rob. On Oct. 1, the cook, who suffered from hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, went into cardiac arrest and died following a heroin overdose.

• Paul L. Walters, 46, took heroin and Valium Oct. 2.

• Claude Theodore Tolley Jr., 70, was the oldest person in Cuyahoga County to die of a heroin overdose in 2013. The married laborer overdosed on heroin, an antidepressant and an antihistamine Oct. 3.

• Bryan J. Warfle, a 27-year-old clerk who lived in Garfield Heights, died Oct. 4 after taking heroin and hydrocodone.

• One of four siblings, Ryan Lee McGan died Oct. 4. The 25-year-old Cleveland divorced man overdosed on heroin and cocaine.

• After taking heroin and five other drugs, 55-year-old Benjamin McCrimon III of Cleveland died Oct. 5.

• Albert Leon Houdek Jr., 57, of Cleveland died Oct. 6 of bronchopneumonia after overdosing on heroin.

• Todd J. Evans abused heroin and overdosed on oxycodone Oct. 9. The 53-year-old Cleveland man had a son and one grandchild. He worked as a carpet installer.

• Tamara Davida Patterson had a son, whom she named for her father. The 43-year-old single homemaker died Oct. 11 from bronchopneumonia following an overdose on heroin, oxycodone and a muscle relaxer.

• A graduate of Cleveland State University, Ryan R. DeBarr lived in Mayfield Heights and worked as a laborer. On Oct. 12, he died from an overdose of heroin.

• Andrew James Whalen, a student, overdosed on heroin and alcohol and died Oct. 12. The 23-year-old was found at his home in North Ridgeville.

• Stephanie A. Barry, of Medina, mixed heroin and cocaine Oct. 16 and died. She was 34.

• A licensed practical nurse, Heather Sue Sekely graduated from the Hannah Mullins Nursing School in 1990. The 43-year-old abused heroin, methadone and an antihistamine and died later, Oct. 16, at the Cleveland Clinic.

• Jason T. Marteney, 35, of Lancaster, died Oct. 18 at Southwest General Health Center in Middleburg Heights after suffering brain damage due to a heroin overdose.

• A 59-year-old counselor, Charles E. Burnside, of Rocky River, died after taking heroin and fentanyl, a painkiller, Oct. 18.

• Krystle E. Armour, 26, suffered heart attacks and endocarditis, an infection that travels through the bloodstream, due to chronic heroin abuse. The Lakewood resident, who worked as a receptionist, died of a heroin overdose Oct. 20.

• Lawrence Manzo, an unemployed 52-year-old divorced man, was found inside his Worley Avenue home Oct. 22 after he took heroin, methadone, Xanax and an anticonvulsant. He had two children and five grandchildren.

• Forty-seven-year-old James Galarza of Cleveland overdosed on heroin and died Nov. 1. He was found at his Woodbridge Avenue home.

• A married resident of Cleveland, Ilene Antoinette Mudeer, 30, died Nov. 2 after taking heroin, hydrocodone and Xanax. She worked as an assembler.

• Matthew Swindell, 24, worked at a car dealership. The Cleveland resident overdosed on heroin Nov. 2 and died.

• After taking heroin, cocaine and alcohol, John Cochrac, 53, died Nov. 2. The Seven Hills resident worked as a carpenter.

• Kelly Reid worked as a cook and lived in Lakewood. The 45-year-old single man overdosed on heroin Nov. 4 and was found at his Warren Road home.

• Candace Lee Medley worked as a beautician. The mother of three daughters also had four grandchildren. On Nov. 5, Medley, 53, died of bronchopneumonia brought on by using heroin, cocaine and an antidepressant.

• Nicholas Tyler Renner loved the outdoors, camping and fishing. A 26-year-old Cleveland resident, he died Nov. 9 inside his River Ridge Drive home after a heroin overdose.

• William A. Simmons Jr., known as "Billy," died Nov. 9. The 51-year-old Cleveland resident took heroin, cocaine and alcohol on that day.

• Adriana Lynne Derosett had a daughter, a dog named Buddy and a cat named Baby. She worked as a dental assistant. The 35-year-old divorced woman overdosed on heroin, oxycodone and Valium and died Nov. 16.

• Jacob A. Armeni, known as Jake, broke the state record in track when he was a middle school student at Braden Junior High. The Cleveland resident took heroin, a muscle relaxant, an antianxiety drug and an antihistamine and died Nov. 17 inside his West 119th Street home. He was 34 and had one son. Joseph Bucci was found inside Armeni's house the same day. He too had overdosed and died from heroin, in addition to a painkiller. The 27-year-old worked as a bricklayer and had two children.

• Forty-year-old Glen Allen Beheler Jr. took heroin and cocaine Nov. 17 and died. He was found inside his Hancock Avenue home.

• A construction worker who lived in Euclid, Frank DiMarco, 23, died Nov. 18 after taking heroin and Valium.

• Michael O. Watson, 60, of Cleveland, took heroin and cocaine and died Nov. 22.

• Patric A. Price, a married father of two and grandfather to one, died Nov. 23 after he took heroin and four other drugs. He was 47 and worked as a truck driver.

• Steven K. Molnar, 35, a contractor and resident of Parma, overdosed on heroin and died Nov. 26.

• A welder and mechanic, Gary G. Munden, 32, of Parma, died Nov. 29 after taking heroin.

• Elisabeth Egizio, a disabled 51-year-old divorced woman, died Nov. 29 after taking heroin and alcohol. She was a resident of Lakewood.

• Parma resident and machine operator Michael R. Kremser had two daughters. He was divorced. On Nov. 30, he died of pneumonia brought on by a heroin overdose.

DECEMBER

• Natasha Rae Linville was the 27-year-old mother to a single son. She died Dec. 1 of diabetic complications brought on by a heroin overdose.

• Ralph Fox, 55, overdosed on heroin Dec. 3, at his Buhrer Avenue apartment.

• A machinist with a penchant for art, David A. Lacourse, 44, took heroin and alcohol Dec. 6 and died at his Richmond Heights home. He was engaged and had one son.

• Cecil Arnold Riddle Jr. died Dec. 8 - one day after his 49th birthday. A guitarist, Riddle played in several Ashtabula-based bands over his lifetime, including one named Riddle and the Ramblers. He had three sons, one grandchild and was engaged to be married. On the day he died, Riddle overdosed on heroin, alcohol and benzodiazepine, a psychoactive drug.

• Cleveland resident Phillip Stringer, 56, had three sons, one who died before he did. On Dec. 9, the city worker took heroin, alcohol, an antidepressant and lorazepam, an antianxiety drug.

• Jodi Lynn Myers, 26, of Cleveland, had two children. She died Dec. 9 after taking heroin and Xanax caused brain damage.

• Bruce C. Thurman died Dec. 13 of a heroin overdose. The Cleveland resident was 55.

• Thomas W. Wright, 39, of Cleveland suffered from emphysema. When he overdosed on heroin Dec. 14, he contracted pneumonia and died.

• North Royalton resident Steven Joseph Powers, 31, who worked in sales, died of a heroin overdose Dec. 18.

• A delivery driver and resident of North Royalton, Matthew Joseph Mirka, 24, died Dec. 19 after taking heroin.

• Jerome Slavkovsky was a U.S. Navy veteran. The 64-year-old Euclid man died Dec. 19 after taking a combination of heroin, cocaine, alcohol and hydrocodone.

• George W. Smith, a 54-year-old taxi driver living in Cleveland, died Dec. 22 of a heroin overdose.

• Father to a young girl, Daniel Michael Mingus, a mechanic who lived in Rocky River, died Dec. 22 after taking heroin, cocaine and alcohol.

• Los Angeles resident Michael Taylor Carter was found Dec. 23 at an address on West 50th Street in Cleveland. He died after taking heroin, cocaine and alcohol.

• Kimberly Ann Parker, 34, of Cleveland, died Dec. 26 after taking heroin, Xanax and an antihistamine.