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By KRIS WERNOWSKY [email protected]
Sunday, August 07, 2005 Page: 3A
Ashley Weaver, the 18-year-old who police say died of an overdose at a
Roosevelt Street apartment building, was a happy teenager, her sister said.
“She was a very friendly person,” said 21-year-old Gena Weaver. “If you’re
walking down the street, she’d always said `Hi how are you?’ ”
Gena Weaver lives in the Hilltop Apartments just a few feet down the hill
from the former Jannuzzi Personal Care Home at 1000 Roosevelt St. where her
sister was found dead Thursday.
A man described as a friend came to Gena Weaver’s Hilltop apartment
Thursday morning and asked a foreboding question.
“He asked me what my sister was wearing,” she said.
She described the outfit to the man and he said he saw Ashley up at the
apartments. His delivery of the statement scared her so much that she threw on
a pair of shoes and ran up to the neighboring apartment building where she
found her sister slumped over and unresponsive. That’s as much as she cared to
recall.
Ashley Weaver was found dead at 8:15 a.m. Thursday on the balcony of the
apartment building. She died from what Edwardsville police Chief Michael
Slusark called an overdose of “various chemical agents ingested.” Luzerne
County Coroner George Hudock said it would take several days before the result
of a toxicology test is known.
When asked if she was aware of her sister’s apparent drug use, Gena Weaver
said, “I kind of know she did from back in the day, but I really don’t like to
talk about it.”
Ashley Weaver, who was raised in Noxen, was the second of four girls born
to Richard and Patricia Weaver. She enjoyed swimming and playing softball,
according to her older sister.
She dropped out of high school in Hershey, the city where her younger
sister Britney Weaver lives. She moved to Edwardsville to live with her older
sister earlier this year. The day before she died, she walked around the area
looking for a job.
Police said Ashley Weaver was visiting with people she knew the apartment
complex where she died Thursday. Her sister didn’t name anyone one friend
specifically.
“She always wanders around. She had a lot of friends and she talked to a
lot of people,” her sister said.
The former Jannuzzi Personal Care Home is owned by Michael Jannuzzi,
according to Luzerne County real estate data. Records show he also owns
adjacent property at 1015 Roosevelt St.
Jannuzzi, whose last listed address was 1011 Roosevelt St., could not be
reached for comment Saturday.
Slusark said Jannuzzi’s building is a place police visit routinely for
alcohol-related incidents and domestic violence calls.
“I just think there aren’t too many places left in the area where you can
get a room for a week or a month,” the chief said. “That, of course, is one of
them.”
None of the residents of the former personal care home chose to speak on
the record. One man who lives there said the problems aren’t any different
than what goes on at other apartment complexes.
The building also recently played host to one of the four offices of Dr.
Abul F. Hussain, who was charged with six counts of violating the controlled
substance act and four counts of attempted Medicaid fraud after he allegedly
wrote suspicious amounts of prescriptions to patients.