Andrew Koppel, son of news anchor Ted Koppel, was found dead under “mysterious circumstances” in an apartment in the Washington Heights section of New York City yesterday morning after a lengthy drinking session.
Koppel, an attorney for the city Housing Authority, lived in Rockaway Park in Queens with his girlfriend and their baby. Residents at the Washington Heights apartment say that Kopppel was “really messed up” when he came in with resident Russell Wimberly, a 32-year-old waiter, at around 11pm. By 1am, he was unresponsive in the bed in which he was originally settled upon arriving. 53-year-old Brenda Caban says that after discovering that Koppel was not breathing, paramedics were summoned:
“His complexion wasn’t right. It was pale. I said to call the police,” Caban said. “When the ambulance came, they said he was dead.”
Koppel met Wimberly at Smith’s Bar and Grill at around noon on Sunday. The two began drinking together, traveling from bar to bar, and Wimberly says that Koppel drank from a bottle of Jameson as they walked to different venues:
“There was a lot of alcohol. He didn’t take anything else [drugs] around me, and neither of us ate all day,” he said. “We talked about our kids . . . He said he had a kid and loved [her] a lot.”
Koppel’s family has not commented publicly on his death, and funeral arrangements have not been announced.
