A pharmacist whose body was found in a car in a field outside the town of Faith died from abusing some of the same kinds of prescription drugs he had dispensed for others, authorities said.

On Monday, the Rowan County Sheriff’s Department charged Jason Darrel Burdette, 26, and Joy Smith Safrit, 21, both of 265 Villa Woods Drive, with involuntary mans-laughter in the death of Edward James Ianni.

Ianni’s is the third death in the area blamed on the drug OxyContin in recent years. Authorities say OxyContin contributed to the death of a fourth person in Enochville.

Authorities say Ianni, 30, of Saginaw, Mich., visited the couple at the house they shared in Faith on Oct. 19.

A fourth person — a 14-year-old boy who was with the other three that Friday night — faces drug charges but has not been charged with manslaughter, the Sheriff’s Department reported. His name was not released because he is a juvenile.

“These people were using drugs with the individual, and instead of getting him help when he was in dire need, they abandoned him,” Sheriff’s Lt. John Sifford said.

After using Xanax, OxyContin and alcohol, Ianni fell unconscious and started breathing erratically, authorities said.

OxyContin is a synthetic opiate and powerful painkiller that has been criticized as highly addictive. It can halt respiration altogether when taken in large doses. Doctors recommend that those who take it should not mix it with alcohol.

Xanax, used to treat anxiety, also affects the central nervous system.

Authorities said Burdette and Safrit drove Ianni to a field that Love’s Auto Repair used to parked cars.

“The vehicle was parked in an inconspicuous area where numerous cars were left to be worked on,” a statement from the Sheriff’s Department said. Burdette and Safrit “failed to provide Ianni with any medical attention by not calling 911 or taking him to the hospital or making any kind of report.”

Rescue workers found Ianni dead on Oct. 22, a Monday, at the corner of Cemetery Drive and Burl Castor Road, just outside of Faith. He was slumped over in the 1992 Subaru registered to him and still bearing a Vermont license plate. The car contained an empty, six-pack beer carton.

Investigators reviewed the case with the district attorney’s office. Burdette and Safrit were both taken to the Rowan County Detention Center and held on $500 bond.

Ianni, once a pharmacist, had served probation in West Virginia on drug charges, Sheriff George Wilhelm said.

Contact Brad A. Hodges at 704-797-4266 or bhodges@salisburypost.com .