Eric Bolling's Son 'Panicked' After Buying Drugs Before His Death, Friends Say

The former Fox News host's only child, 19-year-old Eric Chase Bolling, was found dead on Sept. 8

Almost two months after former Fox News host Eric Bolling‘s only child, 19-year-old Eric Chase Bolling, was found dead on Sept. 8, details about the circumstances surrounding the tragedy are coming to light.

According to police documents obtained by The Blast, Eric — whose cause of death was previously ruled an accidental “mixed drug intoxication” after authorities discovered cocaine, marijuana, Xanax and opioid drugs in his system — knew he had possibly ingested a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl the day before he died. (The Boulder County Coroner’s report confirmed that the opioid drugs fentanyl and cyclopropyl fentanyl were found in his system.)

Eric, who was studying economics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, met up with a male acquaintance on Sept. 6 and Sept. 7 to buy drugs in Denver, according to a supplemental case report filed by an officer of the Boulder Police Department.

The acquaintance told police that Eric purchased five pills of Percocet for $35 each on Sept. 6 and swallowed half a pill. That night, Eric and the acquaintance “partied” together, and the acquaintance said he saw Eric smoke Percocet twice by crushing up the pill and heating it up in tinfoil.

According to the report, on Sept. 7, Eric and the acquaintance again drove to Denver to buy drugs, and Eric purchased five more pills of Percocet for $35 each. The acquaintance told police that Eric and one of the dealers each took half a pill and started “panicking” because they “had a different reaction to the Percocet than they normally do.”

The acquaintance told police that Eric “made the comment that he thought the Percocet might have contained fentanyl,” and then said that “fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin and it could kill you.”

According to the acquaintance, by the time they got back to Boulder, Eric “seemed like he had recovered from the Percocet he had taken” and told him that he was going to hang out with “his girl.” Before parting ways, the acquaintance said he gave Eric some cocaine, which he ingested.

Bolling was then visited by a female acquaintance, who told police that Eric offered her Xanax and Percocet that night. She said she declined both offers but that Eric snorted cocaine in front of her before the two went to bed.

According to the report, the female acquaintance woke up at around 7:30 a.m. to go to class. She told police Eric was asleep when she left. She said she did not find this unusual, as she said he was always a “very deep sleeper,” and she told police she “remembered hearing him breathing.”

After becoming concerned that she hadn’t heard from him all day after numerous attempts to reach him, the female acquaintance checked on him that evening and called 911 after finding his body.

The female acquaintance, who told police that she had “become concerned about his drug usage after hearing from several different individuals that Eric was using hard drugs on a regular basis,” also told police that Eric was “always a very happy and positive individual” and “never talked to her about being down or expressed any desire to hurt himself.”

She also told police that Eric had “talked with her recently about problems that his parents were having, but he did not seem overly upset about this situation.” (Fox News parted ways with the elder Bolling after a Huffington Post report revealed in August that he allegedly sent unsolicited inappropriate text messages to female colleagues, TIME reported. Bolling sued the reporter who broke the story in response — launching a $50 million defamation lawsuit. An attorney for the journalist, Yashar Ali, has demanded the lawsuit be dropped, calling it “utterly devoid of merit.”)

Fentanyl, the same drug that killed music icon Prince, is classified as a Schedule II drug by the federal government, and its medical uses are typically pain management following surgery or for chronic pain. Fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin and up to 100 times stronger than morphine.

Cyclopropyl fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is chemically similar to fentanyl but is not intended for human or animal use.

After Eric’s autopsy report was revealed last week, his father took to Twitter to call attention to the “national epidemic” of opioid abuse.

“Just received some tragic news from Coroner in Colorado. Eric Chase’s passing has been ruled an accidental overdose that included opioids,” the 54-year-old tweeted.

“Adrienne and I thank you for your continued prayers and support,” he continued, referencing his wife. “We must fight against this national epidemic, too many innocent victims.”