Subject of the HBO Mini-Series 'The Corner' Found Dead

De’Andre L. McCullough, the young protagonist of the book “The Corner”, which chronicled a year on a drug-plagued street corner in West Baltimore and was turned into an HBO miniseries, died Wednesday of an apparent overdose in Baltimore County, according to police and relatives.

It marked the end of a long struggle with addiction for McCullough, 35, who showed flashes of getting his life on track but was being sought at the time of his death on warrants charging him with two armed robberies at Baltimore pharmacies, police said.

Baltimore County police said McCullough was found at about 6:20 p.m. on Aug. 1 by a girlfriend inside a residence in Woodlawn. The medical examiner's office said it has not determined a cause of death, but family said there was evidence of an overdose.

“De’Andre was very special and very talented, but he could get in his own way quicker than his shadow,” said Donnie Andrews, an inspiration for the “Omar” character on “The Wire” and who married McCullough’s mother, Fran Boyd, in 2007. “It was a demon inside of him that he couldn’t get rid of.”

McCullough, portrayed in "The Corner," dies of apparent overdose - baltimoresun.com