Death In WSU Dorm Due To Overdose

A Kennewick man who died after collapsing in the hallway of a Washington State University dormitory apparently suffered a heroin overdose, the Whitman County coroner said Friday.

The cause of Baron L. Godwin’s Jan. 11 death was initially unknown, and campus police found no signs of foul play.

A toxicology test found extremely high levels of morphine in the 19-year-old’s system, which caused heart and respiratory failure, Coroner Pete Martin said. The death has been ruled accidental.

The morphine likely was the result of heroin that Godwin apparently had used at a party in Pullman before his collapse in WSU’s Gannon Hall, Martin said.

He was not breathing when police discovered him on a first-floor hallway. He was declared dead after being taken to Pullman Memorial Hospital.

Godwin was originally from Kelso but had been living in Kennewick recently, Martin said.

WSU officials have said Godwin was not a WSU student and apparently had been visiting a student who lives in Gannon Hall.