The cause of death of a 15-year-old daughter of a Gilroy
firefighter who passed Dec. 5 after drinking with friends at a
slumber party cannot be determined, according to an autopsy
report.
The cause of death of a 15-year-old daughter of a Gilroy firefighter who passed Dec. 5 after drinking with friends at a slumber party cannot be determined, according to an autopsy report.
Sarah Rose Botill might have died from a preexisting heart condition that could have been exacerbated by alcohol or by inhaling a significant amount of water or watery vomitus while intoxicated, according to a report that was released Tuesday.
“Without more information, the precise cause and manner of death cannot be unequivocally determined,” stated the autopsy report by medical examiner Joseph P. O’Hara.
On Dec. 5, Botill was at the home of former City Councilman Roland Velasco, according to police. There, Botill, 18-year-old Kayla Dunigan and the 16-year-old daughter of Lisa Velasco consumed half of a 750-milliliter bottle of Ketel One vodka mixed with sparkling cider, police said. Dunigan brought the alcohol to the party unbeknownst to her parents and the Velascos, neither of whom knew the girls were drinking, police said.
At age 4, Botill was diagnosed with an innocent heart murmur and irregular electrical activity in the heart that can place patients at risk of arrhythmia, according to the coroner’s report. The report also stated that there is a documented link between alcohol use and rhythm disturbances in apparently healthy people.
However, the report did not name this as the cause of death.
In addition, Botill might have inhaled fresh water while being placed in the shower while impaired, according to the coroner’s report. About 8 a.m. of the morning Botill died, she and the 16-year-old girl at the party put on bathing suits and took a shower together, police said. Botill sat upright in the bath-shower combo at the time, according to police.
Botill had not consumed nearly enough alcohol to die of alcohol-related causes alone, according to the coroner’s report. O’Hara determined that Botill’s blood ethanol concentration was at least .053 percent about one to two hours before her death.
“This blood concentration is not within the accepted lethal range for adults,” O’Hara concluded.
Someone must have a blood alcohol content of .08 percent to be considered under the influence by California police, and forensic pathologists have told the Dispatch that it generally takes a blood alcohol content of anywhere from .20 percent to .30 percent to kill someone with little or no alcohol experience.
More information on this story, including more from the coroner’s report and comment from the Santa Clara County Office of the District Attorney, will be posted this afternoon.
