Most journalists try to exude a sense of invincibility. It's what leads them to think that they can wander into war zones, conduct late-night secret meetings with nefarious sources, and walk away unscathed. In hindsight, it may have been a symptom of his psychological deterioration, but whatever secret doubts Roye may have had about his future, he pretended that he had it all under control, Moorman later said.

Not long after he began probing the underbelly of the suburban heroin scene, Roye made a connection with two alleged drug couriers, both of whom, according to Roye and federal officials speaking at the time, had made several international excursions to ferry heroin. Roye, his aunt said at the time, believed that he could penetrate the drug network, duplicate the drug couriers' feats, and do it with impunity.

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"I told him, 'They'll eat you up and spit you out,'" Moorman told the Record in a 1995 interview. But Roye was unmoved. "Steve felt he had it under control. He was always very confident in himself, but I think he was also worn down by his experience."

A few weeks after first meeting the two couriers, Roye flew to Thailand, then the epicenter of high-grade heroin production, with both of the suspected couriers. But Thai officials, who took a dim view of the drug trade, were already on the lookout for the couriers, and they picked them off one by one. American officials arrested one when she stepped from the plane at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. The second was arrested in Amsterdam. Roye never even made it out of Thailand. On October 20, 1994, authorities surrounded Roye as he tried to board a plane at Bangkok's Don Muang Airport. Grim gun-toting cops sliced into the lining of Roye's suitcase and found six and a half pounds of high-grade heroin. Its estimated street value was nearly $1.8 million dollars.