Law&Crime Sidebar - Son of Ex-YouTube CEO Found Dead in Dorm Room

Episode Date: February 24, 2024

The family and friends of Marco Troper, the son of former YouTube leader Susan Wojcicki, are awaiting a toxicology report after the 19-year-old was found unresponsive at the University of California, Berkeley. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber discusses where the investigation goes from here with former NYPD sergeant Joe Giacalone.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/LCSidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A young man, the son of a former prominent CEO at YouTube, is dead after his family says it appears he may have overdosed at his college dorm. We're discussing the awful news and what happens next in an investigation like this with former NYPD Sergeant Joe Jackalone. the sidebar presented by law and crime i'm jesse we're learning more about the tragic death of a 19 year old student at the university of california berkeley campus marco troper he was found unresponsive in his dorm on the clark care campus section of student housing last tuesday around four in the afternoon and first responders from berkeley fire department they tried to revive him

but he was pronounced dead at the scene marco troper who was in his first year at the university, pursuing a degree in math, is the son of former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. And she had resigned from her position in February of 2023 to, quote, start a new chapter focused on my family, health, and personal project. Here's another interesting note, his aunt, Ann Wigiske, she was the co-founder and CEO of DNA testing company 23 in me, who's actually married to Google's co-founder for several years. Now, speaking of the family, Trooper's grandmother, Esther Wigiske, she told San Francisco media outlets that it appears Trooper took some sort of drug saying, quote,

he ingested a drug and we don't know what was in it. One thing we do know, it was a drug. It should be clear, though, police are waiting for results of a toxicology screening, which can our understanding take up to a month. We'll talk more about it. She said that he was very active on campus. He was a member of the Zeta Si fraternity. A UC Berkeley spokesperson confirmed that there was a student death in a campus storm and said

that there were no signs of foul play, but an investigation is underway. into this young man's death. I want to bring in right now Joe Jackalone, former sergeant with the NYPD to talk about this case and can also check out Joe's podcast, True Crime with the Sarge on YouTube. Joe, great to have you here. Really sad case.

They say there are no signs of foul play, but that doesn't mean that the investigation's over. Talk to me about what you think law enforcement is doing right now behind the scenes. Sure, Jesse. So what do you happen is you treat every death as if it's suspicious until proven otherwise, right? so you collect your evidence, you take your photographs, you do everything that you're supposed to do.

So when you treat things like a homicide, this way, if it happens that, let's say the medical examiner comes back with a matter of death as homicide, or the toxicology reports come back with something strange, then you already have the scene process, and it's not like you can go back and do it again, right? Because there's no do-overs in this. So I'm sure that they documented the scene. He interviewed other people that will live on the floor if he has a roommate. maybe they'll find if he has a, you know, a significant other, they will talk to them. Of course, they're going to talk to family members.

What was going on in this kid's life, it's what we call creating that victimology, trying to find out everything you can about the person who was deceased, because you can sometimes, you know, uncover a lot of information in regards to that. The fact that the grandmother made a statement about a drug being in his system, are you surprised that she knew about that? Are you surprised that law enforcement might have told her that fact? Again, this is coming from her. I don't believe that we have an official, like we said, we don't have the toxicology reports,

but the fact that she made that statement seemed to be pretty definitive. Would you be surprised if law enforcement told the family that? I wouldn't be surprised if law enforcement gave them an idea of what they think that what they think happened in this scene, right? So that's something, you know, not unusual where they would confide with somebody, but they would hope that it wouldn't come out in the media. You know, sometimes I guess, you know, especially nowadays with social media and everybody that is on top of these, cases they should just make sure that the family knows list and don't release this information because you know what we've seen cases where drug dealers have been prosecuted and we don't want to you know

spook the person and then this person flees and everything else that goes on along with it but there might be things at the scene that indicated that this was a drug overdose right so remnants of the packaging maybe remnants of the drugs that were left over maybe there is paraphernalia you know needles or what have you we don't know right so there could be plenty of things that indicate that this was a drug overdose. We have to wait and see exactly what the toxicology reports is and what the police department's official statement will be, including that of the medical examiner when he or she determines the cause and matter of death. And let's talk about that for a little bit in the sense that in California, someone recently was convicted of murder for supplying fentanyl. Now,

we're not saying that's the drug, but we are now seeing this surge in cases of people being prosecuted for drugs they supplied. I think in Texas, they made it a murder. If you're not saying, you either distribute or manufacture fentanyl that kills someone. And so there's this new stance, which in one sense, it's interesting because it's a way to try to stop this epidemic from continuing on. But in another hand, it's really interesting trying to target people who have supplied these drugs that ultimately result in someone's death. So while this might not be a case of foul play, if there was a drug in a system, walk me through what the process is in trying to figure out who supplied the drug. Well, a lot of times when you're dealing with

drug cases, you have drug dealers that actually mark their packaging. So you can actually find out exactly where this came from. And also remember, too, that this is a very large campus, it's very close to San Francisco, which we know has a huge fentanyl problem. And you have a situation where you can talk to the other kids on campus and find out where they're getting their supply from. I mean, it's just sometimes it's just that, you know, old dumb shoe detective work, knocking on doors, talking to people. And, you know, putting people at ease. too because the kids don't want to get themselves in trouble they don't want to know their parents to find out but this is just something that the police department will do during their canvases and it's just

it's just basically investigative 101 and yes we're starting to see prosecutions across the country on this even in new york they're looking at this stuff i don't know if you're going to get murder statues because if you start charging people with murder then your murder stats start going up so we're going to probably see lesser charges in regards to that but it's a deterrent but there also needs to be interdiction too and we need to kind of focus on what are some of the things that have gone wrong with some of these new progressive ideas that have kind of said you know we're going to have these open-air drug markets basically and we're going to have these drug sites I think unfortunately has led to more stuff. Hey so we're going to get back to the story in just a minute but one of the

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come out but i think that the main thing is that we need to push forward to see what we can do to help other people so there won't be any other kids who end up like marco the toxicology reports it takes about 30 days is there any way that it could be expedited it can be expedited it depends on how many, you know, cases are in the queue and how many of them are going to be able to say like this is something that is, you know, some definitely suspected foul play. So if the police suspect foul play, they can definitely get this done quicker. And remember, the medical examiner's office is the one who actually does this. So it's that collaboration between the police department and the medical examiner's office. So, you know, the police department

really can ask them if they can expedite it, but it's not really up to them. I'm sure they'd like to get the test. But yes, it could take anywhere from four to six weeks to get back at toxicology reports, depending on what's in the queue. And let me just finish this up by saying some more comments from this young man's grandmother. She described him as the most kind, loving, smart, fun, and beautiful human being, said their family is devastated beyond comprehension, that his life was cut too short. We're all devastated thinking about all the opportunities and life experiences that he will

miss and we will miss together. Marco, we all love you and miss you more than you will ever know. Just a really, really sad case here, Joe. hopefully we get a few more answers as to what happened. And it seems to me that also the university is trying to have a role in this as well and be cooperative because do they take some of the responsibility that as one of their students died on their campus. Well, yeah, we've seen this happen before with universities. They're very protective of their own brand. So I always kind of, you know, look at this with like an eye wide open when universities are involved in trying to control the narrative, so to speak.

I mean, we saw this with Idaho, you know, with a quadruple murder up there. There, things that happen on campus affects enrollment, affects, you know, parents sending their kids to school because they assume that everything is safe. So, yes, I mean, we need to determine exactly what transpired here if this was an accidental overdose or something else. Yes, parents should be concerned about what this investigation reveals. Yeah, just, again, really, really sad case,

but we wanted to talk about it. Joe Jackalone, former sergeant with the NYPD. You can check out his podcast, True Crime with Sarge on YouTube. Thanks so much for coming on. Thanks for having me, Jesse. All right, everybody, that is all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. As always, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.