East Berne man dies; steroids suspected, By: Brendan J. Lyons

March 23, 2007

ALBANY -- A 27-year-old East Berne man died this morning from complications that authorities said may have been connected to his use of black market steroids.

Pete Kennedy had been hospitalized in critical condition since March 2. He checked himself in at St. Peter's Hospital that day with severe cold symptoms and was subsequently transferred to Albany Medical Center Hospital, where he died this morning in an intensive care unit.

Kennedy had been in a medically induced coma for more than three weeks.

His mother, Barbara, said she declined to allow the hospital to conduct an autopsy on her son. Therefore, the exact cause of death may never be known.

"I said, 'You know the steroids did it,' and they said 'no,' they're not going to be able to say yes or no," Kennedy said. "He was 100 percent healthy until the steroids tore down his system."

Law enforcement authorities said they believe Pete Kennedy began injecting testosterone and other steroids last year. They recovered bottles of steroids from his home after he was hospitalized and are still trying to determine where they were made.

His mother said she suspected he was taking the drugs. He built an elaborate gym in their basement last summer and worked out for up to four hours a day, pumping weights as he charted his rapidly increasing strength and size on charts. In just a few months his body weight ballooned from about 168 pounds to more than 210 pounds, she said.

Kennedy said doctors told her that her son had an enlarged heart, a failing liver and kidneys that needed to be replaced.

Pete Kennedy worked for a Rotterdam glass company.

Investigators suspect bottles of nandrolone and testosterone, which are both anabolic steroids, that were found in Pete Kennedy's belongings may have been produced locally.

There is no connection between Kennedy's case and a larger Albany-based investigation that involves a maze of pharmacies, doctors and wellness centers accused of conspiring to distribute steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.