NOVEMBER 20, 2015, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A9
CRIST,
continued from Page A1
when asked to describe her
only son. “He was always smil-
ing when not using drugs.
Anyone who met him liked
him. Any rehab place we took
him to, they said he was awe-
some. He had a great heart. He
was a good kid.”
Jeff said Brandon’s charm
was apparent to all who got to
know him.
“All of our friends liked
him,” Jeff said.
Troubles started in eighth
grade. After going to a pri-
vate Christian school in Salem
previously, Brandon decided
to start attending Whiteaker
Middle School.
“In eighth grade it started
with alcohol and pot,” Hol-
lie said. “He didn’t feel like he
fi t in. He didn’t have a group
to gravitate to. The kids who
were experimenting (with
drugs), he was gravitating to
them.”
Police reports obtained by
the Keizertimes show a his-
tory of a young man in trouble
with the law, mainly for drugs
and behavioral issues, dating
back to when Brandon was 13.
Things progressed when
Brandon entered McNary
High School. He started run-
ning away and doing other
drugs like ecstasy. At age 15
the Crists sent Brandon to a
boarding school in Costa Rica.
“He was skipping school,
running away, being defi ant,”
Hollie said. “It was good for
a while when he came back.
Then it went downhill again.
He lied about who he was see-
ing. He probably started doing
heroin at 17.”
Hollie said Brandon even-
tually admitted to doing her-
oin, cocaine and speedballs, a
mixture of the two.
“He and his friends wanted
to try all the drugs,” Hollie
said. “Heroin was the one that
hooked him.”
Over the course of several
years, Brandon was in and out
of detox centers. He went to
one in Portland three separate
times – two weeks each time
– but didn’t fi nish the third
time. There was a week spent
in a Eugene detox center. He
got a diploma for completing
45 days at a detox center in
Klamath Falls.
“The arrest
was the best
thing that
happened to
him. We had
him back for
a year.”
— Hollie Crist
“He was just a troubled
kid,” Jeff said. “I don’t know
what to think. He was a good
boy before all of this. You nev-
er think it will happen to you,
or to your kid.”
In July 2013 Brandon was
arrested by Detective Chris
Nelson of the KPD for unlaw-
ful possession and delivery of
heroin.
“Brandon said when Chris
Nelson pulled the gun on him
and he went to jail for the fi rst
time, that’s when he decided
to get clean,” Hollie said. “The
arrest was the best thing that
happened to him. We had him
back for a year.”
As mentioned in a previous
Chasing Dark story, Brandon
entered a detox center and
then transitioned to a long-
term rehab center. He talked
with Nelson about once a
month.
“He showed interest when
he got out of the treatment
center about talking to kids
about the dangers of drug use,
particularly heroin, and the
devastation it hails on individ-
uals and families,” Nelson said.
“Brandon fought hard against
the dark and evil addiction
to heroin. He gave himself a
glimpse of freedom and you
could hear energy and excite-
ment in his voice when he was
drug-free. Unfortunately, he
relapsed after treatment and
the addiction to heroin ended
his life.”
Hollie also noted the
change in her son.
“He was clean for 11
months,” she said. “He was
pumped about it. He was
happy. He was going to be a
drug and alcohol counselor.
He found a friend in Bend. He
was going to live in a youth
shelter, then a Sober Living
house in Bend.”
In an Oxford House, recov-
ering addicts live together in
transitional housing, support
each other and go to Narcotics
Anonymous meetings togeth-
er. In short, it’s a large support
group.
“He was always going to
meetings,” Jeff said. “He knew
exactly how many days he’d
been clean.”
Suddenly, things fell apart.
puzzle answers
“We’re not really sure what
happened,” Hollie said. “He
called, crying and said he was
going to move out. He said he
was going to have a drink. He
was struggling with step four
of the recovery, which is com-
ing to terms with who you’ve
hurt. He moved out but didn’t
have a place to live. I think it
was to use heroin. I have no
idea what happened, no clue.
I thought he was doing fi ne.”
Brandon came back to
Keizer, but continued using
drugs. He didn’t want to go to
Narcotics Anonymous meet-
ings, since he wanted to go to
bars with friends.
Hollie said it became clear
when Brandon was on heroin.
“He was negative when us-
ing,” Hollie said. “The poor
pitiful me thing. Everyone was
out to get him. He wasn’t nice.
He didn’t smile a lot and was
always unhappy. When he was
clean he was smiling, happy,
outgoing, family oriented. But
he missed my birthday and
Mother’s Day fi ve years in a
row.”
In addition, Brandon would
come home late, constantly be
tired and nodding off.
“He alienated himself,”
Hollie said. “He was defi nitely
nodding off with the heroin.
He looked bad. He was very
thin, had lost a lot of weight,
had dark circles under the
eyes. He wouldn’t shower. His
nails would be dirty. He used
black tar heroin, which would
be under his fi ngernails. He
was washing his clothes all the
time. There was a real person-
ality change. They’ll get very
defensive when you confront
them.”
Jeff said parents suspecting
drug use need to trust their
instincts.
“If you think there’s some-
thing wrong, there’s some-
thing wrong,” Jeff said. “Don’t
doubt it.”
Hollie said nothing else
could have been done to help
Brandon.
“We tried everything,” she
said. “We did everything. He
had every opportunity to get
clean. The times he went to
detox, he just did it for us. It’s
an internal thing. It has always
been his choice (to get clean).
We loved him to death and
would have done anything,
but it had to be his choice to
get clean.”
After bouncing between
Keizer and the Bend area,
Brandon came back to Keiz-
er in October 2014. He had
trouble fi nding work due to
his felony history, but in Sep-
tember – just two weeks be-
fore his passing – Brandon got
a job at a call center.
“He told them before being
hired about the felony,” Hollie
said. “I do human resources, so
I told him to tell them right
off the bat. They knew about
it and they hired him. He was
so excited about it. Three days
in, he got a tap on the shoul-
der and was terminated. He
was devastated. I wonder if
that’s the excuse for what set
him over.”
Hollie still feels anger.
“I get mad at Brandon for
doing it again and for leav-
ing me,” she said. “I know he
wouldn’t want me to see him
using. I’m mad at myself for
not catching it. I’m mad at
myself and at him.”
“If you think
there’s
something
wrong, there’s
something
wrong. Don’t
doubt it.”
— Jeff Crist
Hollie said her son didn’t
want to be remembered for
his addiction.
“He never wanted to be
known as a junkie,” Hollie
said. “He would hate that. But
that’s how people are remem-
bering him. He would just be
devastated. He had a lot of
shame and guilt in being an
addict.
“He was the addict,” she
added later. “He chose to do it.
He couldn’t get out of it. It’s a
disease. People don’t choose to
get cancer, but he chose to do
drugs. I don’t think he knew
what he was getting himself
into.”
The pain can be felt in
Brandon’s obituary, which in-
cludes this line: “Brandon put
up a good fi ght with his addic-
tion, but sadly lost the battle.
He is fi nally at peace and will
be deeply missed.”
Hollie recalled one Christ-
mas gift from Brandon.
“He had stolen our camera,”
Hollie said. “So he brought us
a camera, which he’d probably
stolen from someone. It was
just a box and a camera, noth-
ing else. I know he had guilt
about stealing. He wasn’t steal-
ing, it was the drugs. He would
rather sell drugs than get mon-
ey from stealing things.”
Now it’s Jeff and Hollie
thinking about their son’s life
being stolen away.
“A lot of friends have
helped us through it,” Jeff said.
“I think about it every day. I’ll
drive somewhere and I’ll re-
member Brandon. It could be
places we would go, or I’ll see
a white van. I think about it
every day, all the time.”
Hollie still hasn’t complete-
ly processed the loss of her son.
“I’m more numb still,” she
said. “I sleep with his coat.
We haven’t touched anything
in his room. He was the love
of my life. I just adored him.
I told him I would lay down
in the road and die for him in
order for him to be clean. That
drug just got him really bad.
It’s just the most awful thing
ever.”
At Brandon’s memorial ser-
vice, a mom wrote in the ser-
vice book her son was going
down the same path Brandon
had. She asked for Hollie to
call her.
Hollie tearfully said last
week she hasn’t made the call
yet.
“Right now I don’t know
how to help somebody,” Hol-
lie said. “I didn’t even know
how to help my own son. We
did everything we possibly
could. I hope this story helps
one kid. That’s what Brandon
would have wanted. His mes-
sage would have been don’t
ever start.”
Ideally, Hollie would love
for more than one addict to be
saved after hearing Brandon’s
story. But even if that hap-
pened, it wouldn’t replace the
hole in her life.
“It would feel good, but it
wouldn’t make his death any
easier,” she said.