Overdose deemed accidental

Ed Scheetz resigned last week as CEO and president of Morgans Hotel Group, owner of the Hard Rock Hotel, for personal reasons, the company said in a prepared statement. It did not disclose those reasons.

But three weeks earlier, Las Vegas police had found a 24-year-old Colorado woman dead at a Turnberry Towers condominium where Scheetz, 42, was staying.

According to authorities, Michelle Lynn Hatchel was found dead of a drug overdose on Aug. 29 inside the condominium on Paradise Road near Sahara Avenue.

Las Vegas police said Scheetz had returned home to the condo about 8 p.m. and called 911 to report that a woman, whom he described as his girlfriend, was cold, stiff, not breathing.

"Oh my God. Oh my God," he said to the 911 dispatcher, according to officer Ramon Denby, a spokesman with the Metropolitan Police Department.

Officers found no evidence of foul play.

Police, who found pills and white powder near Hatchel, initially thought she had committed suicide, Denby said.

The county coroner later ruled that Hatchel, from Lone Tree, Colo., died from an accidental overdose of Oxycodone and cocaine.

Scheetz isn't facing any charges in connection with the death and its circumstances. Clark County District Attorney David Roger, who wasn't familiar with the case, said authorities in general look at a wide array of factors when considering whether to bring drug possession charges against someone, including whether a person knew drugs were in a residence or whether the drugs were in plain sight.

Scheetz did not return phone calls seeking comment made to his home in Connecticut and through his personal assistant.

"It was a mutual resignation for personal reasons to allow Ed to deal with personal issues," a Morgans spokeswoman said on Thursday. She declined to comment further.

Hatchel's friends posted their condolences on the social networking Web site Myspace.com shortly after her death.

"I wish you didn't have to go so soon. I am so sorry. I am sorry I couldn't save you," wrote one friend, Jeff Scott, on Sept. 3.

Another, a man who identified himself as "pfirsiche," wrote on Sept. 19 about Hatchel: "you will be forever missed I miss you so much you were such a great person."

Hatchel posted on her Myspace.com page that she attended Marshall High School in San Antonio, Texas, from 2001 to 2002 and Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., from 1999 to 2001. She also wrote that she had "some college" but didn't describe where or when.

Scheetz, a Princeton graduate, took over as president and chief executive officer of Morgans Hotel Group in 2005. Published media reports commented that Scheetz wasn't as stylish or flashy as former CEO Ian Schrager, who was well known as one of the owners of the Studio 54 disco in New York.

A Forbes profile of Scheetz published earlier this month described him as a "numbers guy" with ambitious plans to double the size of the company.

Morgans Hotel Group acquired the Hard Rock Hotel in February for $770 million. The company is known for operating high-end boutique-style hotels such as Hudson in New York and the Mondrian in Los Angeles.

Scheetz's departure should have no affect on Morgans' application for a gaming license to operate the casino at the Hard Rock.

The casino is currently operated by Golden Gaming, best known as the owners of the PT's Pub chain, under a two-year management agreement.

The licensing investigation is already "far along" and Scheetz's departure should not slow the process, according to Dennis Neilander, chairman of the state Gaming Control Board.

Neilander said Scheetz's replacement would have to be investigated and approved individually as a key employee. Fred J. Kleisner, a director of the company, has been named interim president and CEO.

Neilander said the board does not comment on current investigations and declined to discuss Scheetz's situation.

He did say, however, that an investigation looks into many aspects of an applicant's life.

"Generally, the standards are very broad. We look at all of a person's behaviors," he said.

Review-Journal business writer Arnold Knightly contributed to this story.