Girlfriend Believes Chantix Contributed to Texas Musician's Death

Sept. 19, 2007 — -- Since Texas musician Carter Albrecht's bizarre and tragic death, concerns have surfaced about Chantix, the stop-smoking drug he was prescribed. Those closest to Albrecht believe the drug contributed to his death.

Albrecht was the charming, charismatic keyboard player from pop-music group Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians. A classically trained pianist, Albrecht was also a singer, songwriter and guitar player.

He inspired fierce loyalty among fans in his hometown of Dallas.

"He was such an amazing musician," said his girlfriend Ryann Rathbone.

With a solo album in the works, the 34-year-old was poised to break out on his own when a doctor warned Albrecht he might lose his soulful voice if he didn't ditch cigarettes. He asked Rathbone about the stop-smoking drug Chantix.

"And then we decided that we would do it together because we decided that we wanted to quit," Rathbone told Janet St. James, who first reported this story for ABC News' Dallas affiliate WFAA.

But Rathbone said that almost immediately after starting the drug, they started having vivid, often-frightening dreams — a known side effect of the medication.

"Nightmare kind of, hallucination kind of dreams where you don't know if it's real or not," Rathbone said.

About a week into taking Chantix, after an evening of cocktails, a hallucinating Albrecht started lashing out at his confused girlfriend physically and verbally.

"And the things that he was saying did not make any sense. It was like he was in a nightmare," Rathbone said.

It got worse. On Sept. 5, Albrecht was shot to death on a peaceful street in Dallas after a neighbor said he was banging at the back door, yelling and ranting.

On a 911 tape of the call, the neighbor says, "He was yelling. I didn't know what he was yelling, but I told him to get out of my yard."

The caller's husband, Will Logg, fired what he says was a warning shot through the door. It hit Albrecht in the head. Police have said they have no plans to file charges against Logg.

"I was thinking there's no way," Rathbone said. "It doesn't make any sense. None of it does."