Longtime D.C. mayor's son died of accidental drug overdose: autopsy

WASHINGTON -- An autopsy has revealed that the only son of longtime District of Columbia mayor Marion Barry died of an accidental drug overdose.

Marion Christopher Barry, known as Christopher, died in August at age 36.

A spokeswoman for the D.C. Medical Examiner, LaShon Beamon, said Thursday that Barry died of acute phencyclidine toxicity. The synthetic drug is commonly known as PCP or angel dust. Beamon says the death was ruled accidental.

Christopher Barry had struggled with drug abuse and was given probation in 2011 for PCP possession. His father also had substance abuse problems, and was famously arrested in 1990 after he was caught smoking crack cocaine in an FBI sting operation.

Marion Barry died in 2014, and Christopher ran unsuccessfully for his late father’s D.C. Council seat.