Former TCU Student Sentenced for Heroin Overdose Death of Oil Tycoon’s Grandson

The Tragic Overdose of Ty Boone Pickens

In January 2013, Brennan Rodriguez was a student at Texas Christian University (TCU) when he injected heroin into the arm of Thomas “Ty” Boone Pickens, the grandson of T. Boone Pickens, a well-known billionaire oil tycoon. This act inadvertently led to Ty Pickens’ death.

According to the account provided by Rodriguez’s cousin, who was present during the incident, Ty had asked Rodriguez to give him just enough heroin to make him doze off. At the time, Ty was upset about the breakup between his ex-girlfriend and his father, Tom Pickens. The cousin told a Fort Worth police homicide detective that this emotional turmoil may have influenced Ty’s decision to use the drug.

Rodriguez faced serious legal consequences for his actions. He was indicted on a charge of felony murder. In a plea agreement with the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office, he was sentenced in November 2014 to 10 years of deferred-adjudication probation after pleading guilty to the charge of delivering a controlled substance that caused death.

As part of the probation, Rodriguez served four months in jail before being released in early 2015. However, his probation came to an end in August 2024 when he was charged with stalking a woman. Additionally, he was found in possession of a rifle equipped with a drop-in auto sear, a device that can convert a firearm into a machine gun.

The stalking charges were based on evidence that Rodriguez had been following the woman. According to the indictment, he mentioned in text messages to the woman places where she had been and what she was wearing, indicating he had been monitoring her movements. He also visited her home at night, unscrewed the security light bulbs, and attempted to pry open the door with a tool. He followed her to two stores as well.

The district attorney’s office filed a petition to revoke Rodriguez’s probation in the overdose case. On Thursday, in Criminal District Court No. 3 in Tarrant County, Judge Doug Allen revoked Rodriguez’s probation. In line with another plea agreement, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Rodriguez, who is now 34, will become eligible for parole after serving five years.

T. Boone Pickens, the grandfather of the deceased, passed away in 2019 at the age of 91.

Tom and Jennifer Pickens claimed that Rodriguez injected their son with heroin on January 29, 2013, in an attempt to steal his ATM card. Comerica Bank records included in the case file show that Rodriguez was recorded by a camera at a Sundance Square ATM on that day, apparently withdrawing $60 from Pickens’ account.

Defense attorney Greg Westfall, who represents Rodriguez along with Bruce Ashworth, has stated that Rodriguez’s cousin told the detective that Ty Pickens had used heroin several times before his overdose on January 29, 2013. According to the cousin, Ty freely gave his ATM card and PIN number to Rodriguez.

An arrest warrant affidavit revealed that Rodriguez and Pickens used heroin and Xanax on January 28, 2013. Pickens returned to Rodriguez’s apartment late that night and asked Rodriguez to inject him with more heroin. The apartment is located at 1800 Rogers Road in Fort Worth.

The cousin told police that he and Rodriguez left the apartment. When they returned, they found Pickens unconscious and sweating profusely, which prompted them to shake him awake and provide him with water and an ice pack. The next morning, when they could not wake Pickens, the men carried him to a car. The cousin drove Pickens to a hospital.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that, in addition to heroin, Pickens had the anti-anxiety drug alprazolam in his body at the time of his death.

In the machinegun possession case, Rodriguez was sentenced in U.S. District Court to four years and three months in prison. This sentence will run concurrently with the 10-year sentence for the overdose death case.