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Saturday 25 December 2010

Aspiring model found dead at home of Anheuser-Busch beer heir August Busch IV

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:54 AM on 25th December 2010


Adrienne Nicole Martin

Found dead: Adrienne Nicole Martin, 27, had been seeing Anheuser-Busch heir August Busch IV for months

A 27-year-old aspiring model was found dead earlier this week at the gated suburban St. Louis mansion of former Anheuser-Busch CEO August Busch IV, 46.

Police and the St. Louis County medical examiner's office on Thursday identified the female victim as Adrienne Nicole Martin of St Charles.

Friends told the Post-Dispatch the pair had been dating for several months. It is not clear if Busch was home at the time her death.

While some reports speculate an overdose, the true cause of death was not immediately confirmed.

Busch is the great-great-grandson of Anheuser-Busch founder Adolphus Busch and is nicknamed 'The Fourth'.

Police were called Sunday afternoon to his home in the St. Louis suburb of Huntleigh and found Martin's body. St. Louis County forensic administrator Suzanne McCune said there were no signs of trauma or illness.

An autopsy and toxicology report has been conducted but results could take four to six weeks.

Art Margulis, an attorney for Busch, said Martin was visiting the home, and added that there was 'absolutely nothing suspicious' about Martin's death.

'It was a tragic death of a young woman,' he said.

The statement from police said the department received a 911 call at 1.15pm local time Sunday about an 'unresponsive person' at the home. Martin was deceased when paramedics and officers arrived, the release said.

August Busch IV was the CEO of family company Anheuser-Busch until it was sold in 2008. A 27-year-old divorced mother, also an aspiring model, was found dead in his St Louis mansion

Beer heir: August Busch IV was the CEO of family company Anheuser-Busch until it was sold in 2008. It is not known whether he was home at the time of death

The Post-Dispatch quoted an unnamed law enforcement source as saying the case was being investigated as a possible overdose. McCune would only say that an overdose was among the possible causes.

A woman identified as Adrienne Nicole Martin, from the St. Louis area and the same age as the victim, posted on the website iStudio.com that she was studying to be an art therapist and was hoping to become a model.

'I really would like to do beer advertising,' the woman wrote in the posting.

She also used to do beauty pageants.

August Busch IV, nicknamed 'The Fourth', is the great-great-grandson of Adolphus Busch, the German immigrant who co-founded Anheuser-Busch in the late 1800s

Great-great grandfather: Adolphus Busch was a German immigrant who co-founded Anheuser-Busch in the late 1800s

Busch was chief executive at Anheuser-Busch from 2006 until the maker of Budweiser, Bud Light and other beers was purchased by InBev in 2008.

The $52 billion merger created the world's largest brewery. Busch remains a member of the board of directors for InBev.

The Post-Dispatch reported that Busch and his wife of 2½ years Kate, who was sixteen years his junior, divorced in 2009.

This is not Busch's first brush with scandal.

In 1983, Busch, then a 20-year-old University of Arizona student, left a bar with a 22-year-old woman. His black Corvette crashed and the woman, Michele Frederick, was killed.

Anheuser-Busch brands, now part of InBev, include Bud Light and Budweiser

Anheuser-Busch brands, now part of InBev, include Bud Light and Budweiser

Busch was found hours later at his home. He suffered a fractured skull and claimed he had amnesia. After a seven-month investigation, authorities declined to press criminal charges, citing a lack of evidence.

STLtoday.com, the website for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper, cited a divorce file in reporting that Martin was married in 2002 to a 45-year-old man but they separated in February 2009. The couple had joint custody of an 8-year-old son, the paper reported.

Police provided information in a faxed news release that did not say if the death was considered suspicious.

Phone messages seeking an interview were not returned. The release did not say why news of the death was not announced until four days later.

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