3 Found Dead After Inhaling Laughing Gas

Three young men were found dead early Friday, apparently asphyxiated after inhaling nitrous oxide--so-called laughing gas--emitted from an 80-pound canister they held across their laps in the sealed cab of a pickup truck.

Los Angeles police called the deaths accidental and said the victims died after the canister’s valve was left open inside the truck, parked with its windows up on Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Chatsworth. Before letting the gas escape into the cab, they had inhaled it from balloons filled from the canister, police said.

It was unclear whether the valve on the gas cylinder had been intentionally left open, Detective John Cameron said.

“There was still gas being emitted from the cylinder when they were found,” Cameron said. “It was possible they could have left the valve open while filling the balloons, and it filled the cab.

“In a closed compartment like that, they were inhaling the gas and their own (exhaled) carbon monoxide. They weren’t getting oxygen.”

Nitrous oxide is a mild anesthetic normally used by dentists. State law prohibits its recreational use, but it is widely available for other purposes. Auto shops routinely sell the gas and recharge canisters because it is used in high-performance engines.

The gas has grown in popularity in recent years among young people, primarily those who attend underground parties in the Los Angeles area. The gas, also referred to as “hippie crack,” is sold at such parties--or “underground raves”--for $3 to $5 a balloonful, those familiar with the parties said.

The victims were identified as Richard Dellavechia, 20, of Sepulveda, Matthew Champy, 21, of Woodland Hills and Michael Cook, 23, of Sherman Oaks, said Bob Dambacher, spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. Dellavechia was the owner of the truck, authorities said.

Dellavechia’s parents said he was a Van Nuys High School graduate who was not employed but recently had been a trainee with a local stock brokerage.

“I don’t know how it could have happened,” said his mother, Linda Dellavechia. “This was a mistake he made, and he paid for it with his life. He was a loving son, and we had high hopes for him. That’s all I can say.”

Families of the other two men could not be reached for comment. Friends said Champy was working part-time jobs after recently losing his job as a waiter.

“They were not drug addicts, and they were not bad guys,” said Luke Jacobellis, who was a friend of all three. “They just made a mistake.”

A second industrial-size cylinder of the gas was found in the bed of the truck. Police said they will attempt to trace serial numbers on the tanks, adding that a local hospital recently reported two such cylinders of the gas stolen.

Several balloons and flyers advertising upcoming underground parties were found in and around the pickup truck, and the victims each had stamp marks on their hands indicating they had recently been at a club.

On a recording Dellavechia left on his phone answering machine, he said: “I went to Joy for the night with Mike and Matt.” Joy is a party held Thursday nights at the Troubador nightclub in West Hollywood. Joy’s promoter, Graham Seaman, who leases the nightclub for the event, said nitrous oxide was not available at the party Thursday night.

The bodies of the three men were found at 4 a.m. in the Chevrolet truck, parked near Nordhoff Street with its brake lights on, by passing patrol officers. Officer Mark Terrill said he saw the still figures in the cab and called paramedics, but the men already were dead.

Autopsies will be be performed in the next few days, authorities said.

A cashier at a 7-Eleven store in the area said he had called 911 an hour before the bodies were found to report that three young men had been acting suspiciously in the store. A review of a tape from the store’s video camera shows the three men in the store at 3:21 a.m.

But the cashier, Santokh Singh, said he did not report that he had suspected the men of shoplifting and no patrol car was sent.

Cameron said he was not aware of the 911 call, and a police spokeswoman said she could not confirm that the call was placed. The 7-Eleven videotape shows Singh picking up the phone immediately after the three men left the store.

After word of the grim discovery was broadcast on radio and TV news, several young people who said they frequent underground parties came to where the truck was still parked.

Jeff McBride, 20, said he knew Dellavechia as a regular on the underground party circuit. He said they were together on Thursday evening but split up when Dellavechia decided to go to the Joy party.

McBride said he was shocked to learn that his friend had the industrial-size canisters of nitrous oxide in his truck. He said Dellavechia was neither a promoter of the parties nor a seller of the gas.

“I am just devastated by this,” said McBride, who added that he has occasionally inhaled nitrous oxide at underground parties. “I can’t believe this has happened. I don’t know where he got that much.”

McBride said Dellavechia regularly went to underground parties with him. “We go all the time. There are parties all over the place. It’s the only place you can go to dance till 6 in the morning. I thought it was pretty harmless.”

A 16-year-old friend of McBride predicted that the deaths will not curtail use of the popular laughing gas. “I doubt this will change anything,” she said.

But Mark Webster, another onlooker who said he has used nitrous oxide at parties, disagreed. “It’s distressing,” Webster, 18, said of the deaths. “Would I ever try it again? I don’t think so. I’ve already experimented with it and don’t think I would go back to it now.”

Times staff writers Dennis Romero and Jocelyn Y. Stewart contributed to this story.