Official: Cocaine cause in death of man found in office park in August

Tuesday, October 16, 2012
© Copyright 2013 Gwinnett Daily Post

PEACHTREE CORNERS -- Toxicology tests show a 39-year-old man whose body was found two months ago in a Peachtree Corners office park died of cocaine use, the Gwinnett County Medical Examiner's Office said Tuesday.

Ronald Corona, a former pharmacist turned drug counselor, was found by a cleaning company employee about 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 13 behind a business at 25 Technology Parkway.

The employee reported that Corona lay face down in a pool of blood. Gwinnett police initially called his death suspicious, but an autopsy showed that Corona did not die from any sort of trauma.

Ted Bailey, chief forensic investigator, said Tuesday the "toxic effects" of cocaine killed Corona. Police said Corona had moved to Georgia from Pennsylvania in November and that his mother had reported him missing prior to his death.

Corona was carrying no identification, and police resorted to releasing photographs of his tattoos to learn his name.

According to an obituary published Aug. 30 in the Scranton Times, Corona graduated magna cum laude from Boston's Northeastern University in 1997. He landed a job as pharmacist in Philadelphia before moving to the Gwinnett area last year, where he worked as a counselor at Narconon of Georgia.

An inquiry with that company was not immediately returned Tuesday.

Gwinnett Daily Post