Beauty queen, dermatologist from NJ died of cocaine and alcohol, officials say

A successful dermatologist who was found unconscious in the entry of a Manhattan building after a night of partying died of acute cocaine and alcohol intoxication, the medical examiner's office said Monday.

The Oct. 4 death of Kiersten Cerveny, a 38-year-old doctor from Long Island with a husband and three children, was ruled an accident, according to Julie Bolcer, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner.

The finding of an overdose confirmed what police had suspected all along. Authorities believed Cerveny had been snorting cocaine all night as she shared drinks with a television and movie producer at a Lower East Side nightspot.

Detectives said Cerveny eventually rode back to a Chelsea apartment building with the producer, a Facebook friend of Cerveny's identified by police as Marc Henry Johnson.

The two pulled up at the modest five-story walk-up around 4:30 a.m. Four hours later, surveillance video showed Johnson and another man carrying Cerveny down the stairs to the building's entryway.

Johnson called 911 and stayed with Cerveny until EMTs arrived, then left. When police officers showed up, Cerveny was in the lobby, unconscious and unresponsive. She was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

Detectives questioned Johnson but he was not charged with a crime. Johnson is the producer of "The Deuce," an HBO pilot starring James Franco that focuses on the rise of the porn industry in New York in the 1970s and `80s. Neither Johnson nor his attorney responded to requests for comment.

Cerveny's achievements included winning the 1995 America's Junior Miss competition as a teenager from Blackwood, New Jersey. The prize was a $30,000 scholarship she used to attend Duke University. After graduating, she earned her medical degree from Tulane.
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.