BY TANYA BRICKING
The Cincinnati Enquirer

No one ever thought Marcus Forte would get messed up with drugs.

Not his childhood friend. Not his family. Not the people he hung around with at Finneytown High School.

But it was a botched drug deal that led to his death, Nashville, Tenn., police said Friday. Three men will be charged in his slaying.

Mr. Forte, who would have turned 22 last month, was killed Jan. 22 after he arranged a deal for a Cincinnati man to buy 3 pounds of marijuana in Nashville, homicide detectives Jeff West and Kent McAlister said.

The deal collapsed when the unidentified buyer stole the marijuana from the suppliers, causing them to take retribution against Mr. Forte, police said.

''That can't be,'' said Cary Daniel, 22, of Mount Healthy, who learned for certain Friday that his friend was dead. ''He was never into anything crazy like drugs or anything. It's just not him.''

Mr. Forte, a college junior, had started classes in January at American Baptist College in Nashville. He was ambitious, outgoing and just ''a good person,'' Mr. Daniel said.

Nashville homicide detectives theorize that four men beat, bound and gagged Mr. Forte at a South Nashville apartment, put him into the trunk of a car and dumped him into a creek that feeds into the Cumberland River.

His body was found Tuesday afternoon in the river near downtown Nashville. An autopsy determined he died as a result of drowning.

One man, Mitchell Howard Harrison, 20, of Antioch, Tenn., was arrested Friday and charged with criminal homicide. Police have not released the names of two other men they are seeking who also face homicide charges.

A fourth man, James ''Jimmy'' Garvin Jr., of Nashville committed suicide Feb. 1 when police came to question him. He would have been charged as well, police said.

Mr. Garvin, 20, had a previous run-in with police for allegedly trying to smuggle marijuana to an inmate in the county jail, authorities said.

His father, James Garvin Sr., said Jimmy had been suicidal since he was 14, when his parents divorced. A few months ago, Mr. Garvin said he found Jimmy holding a gun and threatening to shoot himself. Another time, his father said he found him in the garage with the car running. But he said he didn't think his son was into drugs.

When police came to question Jimmy, Mr. Garvin said he was ready to support his son. Jimmy told police to wait while he put on his shoes. Mr. Garvin followed his son into the bedroom and watched him pick up a gun.

''I was reaching for the gun and he said, 'Bye, Daddy,' and pulled the trigger,'' Mr. Garvin said Friday. ''I've been crying for almost 60 days over it. Every day. I wish it never would have happened. I don't know who was responsible. All I know is that my son is dead, too.''

Mr. Garvin said he's shocked to hear his son would have been a murder suspect.

''I taught him the values of life - what life was worth,'' he said. ''He might have known what happened, but I don't think he did it.''

Mr. Forte's friends and family also were stunned Friday to learn the details, said a cousin, Terrence Forte, 38, of Kennedy Heights.

Marcus Forte's mother, Gloria Forte-Butler, said the family is too distraught to talk. She is busy planning funeral arrangements.

Mr. Forte, a 1993 Finneytown High graduate, was the oldest of three boys. He was voted ''most athletic'' in his senior class and went to Georgetown College in Kentucky on a football scholarship.

After several injuries, he decided to concentrate on basketball and came home to attend the University of Cincinnati, friends said.

''Basketball was his first love,'' Mr. Daniel said.

Later, he went to Nashville with a friend, Jerry Robinson, and talked of going back to Cincinnati and opening a dance club. They would have called it ''M.J.'s'' - the ''M'' for Marcus and ''J'' for Jerry.

He also dreamed of going into sports medicine, his mother said.

''It's still got me in shock right now,'' longtime friend Mr. Daniel said from his St. Louis hotel room, where he is staying with his baseball team this weekend.

''It's just hard to believe that he's gone.''

Previous stories

FORTE WAS KILLED, CORONER SAYS March 28, 1997
BODY MIGHT SOLVE MYSTERY March 27, 1997
NO TRACE AND NO ANSWERS Feb. 15, 1997
STUDENT'S DISAPPEARANCE TAKES BIZARRE TURN Feb. 4, 1997