Man faces murder charge after son dies of drug overdose

SPRING HILL -- Steven Alfano said he just wanted to teach his son "how to party right."

But on Friday afternoon, Alfano was arrested and charged with third-degree murder.

According to authorities, Alfano gave his 15-year-old son prescription drugs and sometimes would even crush the drugs up and snort them with the boy.

When Alfano found his son, Vincent, dead on June 27, he told Hernando County sheriff's detectives that all of his prescribed medications were kept under lock and key "so no one other than himself had access to them," according to an arrest affidavit. 

A medical examiner's report conducted the next day revealed Vincent Alfano died of an accidental drug overdose. The boy had six different drugs in his system at the time of his death.

Alfano admitted to two confidential informants, who wore wires, that he provided his son with drugs and showed him how to use them. "I tried to teach him how to party right," he told the witnesses.

-- Michael Sanserino, Times staff writer