17-year-old couldn't escape 'scary things'

Matthew Furin was ready to move back to Carson Valley.

After 21⁄2 years in Cold Springs, he told his mother Carolyn there were "scary things" going on, and he wanted to be back with the friends he'd grown up with in Johnson Lane.

On July 1, Carolyn Furin, Matthew, 17, and his brother Robbie, 15, moved to a quiet home on County Road with a courtyard in back.

The boys were to attend Douglas High School, Matthew as a senior and Robbie a sophomore.

Those plans all came crashing down on Aug. 2 when Matthew was found dead in his bedroom. Authorities are awaiting toxicology reports, but Carolyn Furin believes her son died of an accidental heroin overdose.

In the weeks leading up to her son's death, Furin said Matthew "looked bad."

"He was gray, he seemed to walk funny," she said. "He spent two weeks working for his dad in Cold Springs and his father said he kept nodding off at dinner."

Furin said she flat-out asked Matthew what was going on.

"I said, 'Do you need help?' He had tears in his eyes and he swore on the Bible it was not meth," she said.

Matthew's death underscores a problem that Douglas County Sheriff's Sgt. Dan Britton said is on the rise locally.

"I wouldn't say it's an epidemic by any stretch, but two years ago, nobody was using heroin. It came to our attention last summer when David Phillips overdosed," Britton said.

Last August, Phillips, 17, lay unconscious for 17 hours from a heroin overdose before his friends called for help. He is recovering from brain injuries and damage to his left arm.

"What disturbs me and the sheriff (Ron Pierini) is heroin is being used by this young crowd," Britton said. "I don't know where they get the idea to do this or think it's hip.

"It's one of the most addictive substances known to man. Prior to a year and a half ago, the only people you ever heard had heroin was some old junkie. None of these kids were doing it. They're not the outcasts you would typically associate with using drugs."

Britton said the heroin is coming from Mexico and distributed through Reno and Carson City.

"It's not terribly expensive and you don't need much of it," he said.

Britton said heroin creates "an extremely pleasurable sensation."

"It gives you a super, duper rush. Then you just want more. Typically, you fall asleep afterward. You're in a stupor. When you take too much, it slows the system down. Your heart stops, your body shuts down, and you die," he said.

Furin said she has no doubt Matthew's death was accidental.

"He was too in love with life," she said.

Furin said her son had the choice whether to stay in Cold Springs or move back. He was attending North Valleys High School.

"I gave him a couple of weeks to change his mind. He said he wanted to move back to Carson Valley because there were 'scary things' going on," Furin said. "In his heart, he wanted to be away from it. He told me he would tell me about it sometime."

Their last conversation was at 11 p.m. Friday, Aug. 1 at their house.

"He asked if he could go camping at Blue Lakes," she said. "I told him I'd let him know the next day."

She said he looked so bad, she waited until noon to check on him, thinking he was sleeping late.

Friends came by late Saturday morning.

"I called, 'Hey, lazy bones. Time to get up,'" she said.

"I found him sitting at his computer. His drugs were laid out in front of him. He was gone," she said.

She and Robbie spent the next frantic hours contacting the sheriff's office and trying to reach Matt's father, David Furin, who was camping.

Carolyn Furin thinks about what might have happened if she'd had Matthew tested for drugs or arrested, based on her suspicions.

"For the last month or two, his father, stepmother and I were talking about what to do. We thought if we had him arrested, he'd pull away from us. If he got arrested because of something else, it wouldn't come from Mom and Dad," she said.

Carolyn and Robbie Furin want people to know what Matthew was like.

Matthew loved dirt bike racing, music, and playing his guitar. He taught himself to play.

"This has been very tough on Robbie," Furin said. "He was close by his brother's side all the time. We're going to just be lost without him. We're sentenced to a lifetime of heartbreak."

"He had tons of friends," Robbie said. "You didn't have to know Matt to 'know' Matt.

"It kind of just feels like Matt's working or moved out for school. I just want people to remember him as a good person. We had some arguments over stupid things," he said.

His mother said that Matthew attracted friends from the time he was a little boy. Some of those childhood acquaintances remained close and were happy the Furins had moved back to Carson Valley.

Two hundred people attended his memorial service in Cold Springs on Aug. 16.

"One of his oldest friends got up and talked about what kind of person Matt was. Then he said, 'You guys keep doing this. People keep dying if you don't stop,'" Furin said. "Everybody was crying."

Furin catches herself looking up at Matthew's bedroom window from the courtyard.

"I expect to see his ghost face at the window," she said.

Despite the sad memories, Furin and Robbie plan to stay at the house.

"His death sucked all the joy out of our house, but we can't leave right now because I feel like he's still here," she said.