13-Year-Old Killed by Heroin Overdose in Woodland Hills Identified

A 13-year-old Canoga Park boy who died of an intravenous heroin overdose given to him by an adult was identified today.

Timothy Matthews was spending the night at a friend's house in Woodland Hills Monday when Brett Cronin, 23, a friend of Matthews' stepbrother, administered the fatal dose, according to a coroner's spokesman and Los Angeles County prosecutors.

On Friday, Cronin pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, furnishing or administering heroin to a minor and child abuse, according to the District Attorney's Office. He faces up to a life in prison, with the possibility of parole.

Matthews, a friend of Cronin's 14-year-old stepbrother, went into a bathroom, where Cronin injected himself and the teenager, prosecutors said.

Cronin is jailed in lieu of $1 million bail, pending an Aug. 22 preliminary hearing.

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