Citing privacy rules for juveniles, Homer Police Chief Mark Robl said he could not identify the victim. The boy had been dead several hours when police were called.

The death is related to an incident the night before in which Alaska State Troopers went to a Belnap Drive home off Diamond Ridge Road for a 15-year-old boy who was unconscious and breathing. Trooper Michael Henry said two 14-year-old boys were with the unconscious boy. One of the 14-year-old boys was the boy who died the next day. EMTs also went to the Belnap Drive home. Henry said the boy's friends told EMTs the 15-year-old boy had a peanut allergy, had eaten some food with peanuts and was having an allergic reaction. EMTs took the 15-year-old boy to South Peninsula Hospital.

However, Henry said when the boy woke up at the hospital, he said he and his friends had taken OxyContin and morphine. The two 14-year-old boys had gone to the hospital, but when it was discovered they might have used drugs, both fled. The two 14-year-old boys appeared fine at the time, Henry said.

Henry said one 14-year-old boy returned to the hospital, but did not get medical treatment. Troopers checked on the boy the next day and determined he was OK. The 15-year-old boy also was fine.

Homer Police searched for the missing 14-year-old boy on Dec. 30, but did not find him, Robl said. He said the boy's mother contacted police that night and said the boy was with her and was fine. Robl did not know if the boy got medical treatment the evening of Dec. 30 or early Dec. 31.

Henry said troopers believe the boys broke into a locked room at the Belnap Drive home and stole prescription drugs from a grandfather of one of the boys. The grandfather had properly secured the medicine and used it responsibly, Henry said.

OxyContin and morphine are both pain medications. OxyContin is a time-release drug used in the treatment of chronic pain. Abusers of OxyContin sometimes grind up the pills and snort it.

Henry said one or more of the boys might have ground up the stolen OxyContin.

Troopers and police said the two cases remain under investigation. No charges have been filed. Robl said the boy's next of kin has been notified and the body released to the family. A full autopsy will not be done, but toxicology tests of the boy are being done, Robl said.

"It's an extremely unfortunate incident," Henry said. "The kids made multiple bad decisions."

Abuse of prescription drugs is one of the more common drug problems on the lower Kenai Peninsula, Henry said, and can be extremely dangerous.

"Hopefully this can be a lesson to other kids out there to be aware of how dangerous prescription drugs are," he said.

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.