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Illustration by David Parkins; Frame: Ableimages/Alamy
A Busch family tree
On Dec. 18, 2010, August Busch IV and his girlfriend, Adrienne Martin, a former Hooters waitress, aspiring art therapist, and divorced mother of an 8-year-old boy, began what was, for them, a typical night in. They enjoyed a steak dinner at Buschâ??s home. They drank for hours, and finally went to sleep around 3 in the morning, according to the first of three versions Busch provided to authorities. He woke sometime after noon and went to the kitchen to make two protein shakes. When he returned to the bedroom with Martinâ??s drink, he tried to wake her. She was unconscious.
Busch lives alone in a 6,300-square-foot mansion set on four wooded acres in the village of Huntleigh, just outside St. Louis. Fifteen miles to the east is the headquarters of Anheuser-Busch, the biggest brewery in America and the maker of Budweiser beer, along with 30 other brands. The company had been run by Buschâ??s family for 150 years until it was devoured by the Belgian-Brazilian conglomerate InBev in 2008 in a $52 billion hostile takeover. Busch, 47, was Chief Executive Officer at the time that Anheuser-Busch was wrenched from his control. He ended his two-year marriage shortly afterward. Pretty soon, Martin, 27, was the only person who saw him regularly.
Police reports describe a chaotic scene in Buschâ??s bedroom that Sunday afternoon. The room, located on the first floor, is in a wing of the mansion that household staff are not usually allowed to enter. Blackout shades cover the windows. Martin could not be revived. She was lying on top of the sheets on the left side of the bed, dressed in a blue tank top, gray spandex leggings, a black sweat jacket, and one black sock on her left foot. A white sock was nearby. She wore a silver-and-diamond Breitling watch on her left wrist, which had stopped at 5:35:08. The police noted three empty prescription drug bottles with Martinâ??s name on the labels. They also found a straw with a white residueâ??later identified as cocaineâ??under the mattress and another in Martinâ??s jacket pocket.
Busch has spoken publicly only once since Martinâ??s death. In a Jan. 4, 2011, interview with the gossip columnist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, he said that the sale of Anheuser-Busch, just 18 months after he had been named CEO, sent him spiraling into a debilitating depression. He confirmed that he was in rehab for that and â??other issuesâ? in early 2010. He also professed his love for Martin. â??You know, Iâ??m this notorious bachelor who always wanted someone on the side, but I didnâ??t with Adrienne.â? He added that he was friends with Martinâ??s ex-husband, Kevin, and was close to their son. â??I was falling in love with the kid. â?¦ Iâ??ve never spent much time around kids that age before. They donâ??t care who you are or what you have. They just accept you the way you are.â?
Busch stopped cooperating with the police soon after. The St. Louis County prosecuting attorney, Robert McCullough, called Adrienne Martinâ??s death an accidental overdose and in a Feb. 10 press conference said he would not press criminal charges against Busch, adding: â??The investigation as to where the drugs came from is at a dead end.â?
The death of Adrienne Martin is the latest twist in a saga that has transfixed St. Louis. The Busches and their beer company had survived Prohibition, labor strikes, and price wars, growing to operate 12 breweries around the country, producing 128 million barrels of beer in 2007 and taking in nearly $17 billion in revenue. The red, white, and blue Budweiser can is practically synonymous with America itself. But at a crucial time, the company failed to adapt to a changing market, leaving it weakened and vulnerable to a foreign takeover. And it was August Busch IV, the last member of the family to lead the brewery, who was there when it all came apart. Martinâ??s overdose represented not just the darkest moment in Buschâ??s turbulent life. It also signaled the unraveling of one of Americaâ??s most storied families, their business empire, and the city their money had helped build. Lawyers for Busch declined to make him available for comment.
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