By ZEKE BARLOW
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   A 15-year-old Salem boy was charged with felony homicide Tuesday in connection with the fatal methadone overdose of an 18-year-old man in May.

    A second 18-year-old overdosed but recovered after police found the two unconscious in an apartment in the 900 block of Camelot Drive in Salem on May 13.

    The boy was also charged with distribution of methadone and conspiracy to distribute methadone. Police are not releasing his name because of his age, but Salem Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Aaron Lavinder said they are looking into charging him as an adult.

    He is being held at the Roanoke Valley Juvenile Detention Center on Coyner Springs Road and is scheduled to be arraigned today.

    Joseph "Joey" Ryan Lawrence, 18, of Salem was found unresponsive at his parents' home May 13 and was pronounced dead at Lewis-Gale Medical Center, said Salem Detective Lt. Reg Gray. Patrick Allen Buckland, 18, of West Virginia recuperated.

    Police are still investigating where the 15-year-old boy got the methadone, a drug often prescribed by doctors to wean opiate-based drug addicts from their addictions.

    Meanwhile, Lawrence's father is still coping with his youngest child's death.

    "He kept telling me he was going to make me proud of him," Darrell Lawrence said.

    He said his son ran with a rough crowd in West Virginia before they moved to Salem, where Joey Lawrence attended but dropped out of Salem High School. Lawrence recently received his General Educational Development certificate and was trying to turn his life around, his father said. He had just landed a job at McDonald's and his father was planning on giving him a car in the next few weeks.

    Darrell Lawrence said he knew his son occasionally smoked marijuana and drank, but had no idea he was into heavy drugs.

    Neighbor Sarah Sweet said there was always activity at the apartment with people coming and going, including one boy who "didn't look like he was old enough to drive."

    Methadone overdoses are on the rise in Southwest Virginia, with the majority of the deaths among people who don't have a prescription for it, said Dr. William Massello, assistant chief medical examiner in Roanoke. There were 62 fatal overdoses in Southwest Virginia last year.

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