Chapman alumnus and KTLA anchor died from methamphetamine overdose, coroner’s report says

Chris Burrous, a 1997 Chapman alumnus and KTLA weekend anchor who wasfound unconscious in a hotel room Dec. 27, died from an accidental methamphetamine overdose, according to a Los Angeles coroner’s report obtained by The Panther.

According to the report, he was found unresponsive at a Days Inn hotel room in Glendale with a male companion. Paramedics performed CPR, then transported Burrous to the Glendale Adventist Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 2:06 p.m. He was 43.

Burrous was engaging in various “sexual activities” with the male companion – who he met on the popular dating app Grindr – when he overdosed, according to a report from the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner. His death was ruled an accident by the coroner’s office.

Burrous put meth rocks up his anus before the sexual encounter, according to the report. He also wore a bondage mask that was covered in amyl nitrite “poppers,” which are inhalant drugs sometimes used to enhance sexual pleasure.

He is survived by his wife, Mai Burrous and had a nine-year-old daughter. An unidentified woman told investigators that she contacted his coworkers Dec. 27 after realizing he was missing. She discovered that he had skipped a noon work meeting that day – something she thought was unusual.

According to an investigator’s report, Burrous had met up with the male companion from Grindr about four times in the past six months. The companion, who was not identified in the report, told police that Burrous had used crystal meth in front of him during the past encounters.

LA since 2011, had a popular food segment called “Burrous Bites” and had reported on the recent California wildfires, as well as the Nov. 7 the Borderline Bar and Grill shooting in Thousand Oaks, California. He was popular with viewers and remembered by KTLA as a “great journalist.”

“He was very versatile and well-liked at the newsroom and by the community. He was extremely popular with his viewers,” Kerry Brace, KTLA’s assistant news director, told The Panther in January.