Standing during long periods of silence as candlelight
illuminated their hearts, nearly 50 people showed up to a vigil
Wednesday to honor 15-year-old Gilroy High School student Sarah
Botill, who died Dec. 5 of possible alcohol-related causes.
Standing during long periods of silence as candlelight illuminated their hearts, nearly 50 people showed up to a vigil Wednesday to honor 15-year-old Gilroy High School student Sarah Botill, who died Dec. 5 of possible alcohol-related causes.
The 30-minute vigil, which took place at the roundabout between Gilroy Police Department and City Hall, attracted friends, acquaintances and several people who did not know Botill. While a few people shared memories of the Gilroy High School student, most spoke about the perils of alcohol and encouraged teens to think carefully about their behavior.
“Whether you knew her or not, it’s a horrible situation that everyone can relate to whether you’re a mother or a father or someone our age,” said Gilroy High School senior Erica Banister, who was a friend of Botill’s. “You just have to think about your decisions.”
The vigil came two days after police revealed additional details surrounding the death. Kayla Dunigan, 18, supplied Botill with vodka stolen from her father’s liquor cabinet the night Botill died, police said.
Dunigan has not been charged with any crime, but could face charges related to supplying alcohol to a minor, Gilroy Police Sgt. Jim Gillio said. If the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office decides to file charges, they could range from contributing to the delinquency of a minor to manslaughter, Gillio said.
Botill, a Gilroy High School sophomore and daughter of a Gilroy firefighter, joined Dunigan and the 16-year-old daughter of Lisa Velasco Dec. 4 for a sleepover at the Velasco residence to celebrate the 16-year-old’s birthday, police said. Later that night, early in the morning of Dec. 5, the three teens drank about 12 ounces of vodka – half of a 750-milliliter bottle of Ketel One – mixed with sparkling cider, police said.
At a packed press conference Monday, Gillio said reports claiming that Botill might have died from copious amounts of water in her lungs were wrong. After the press conference, Detective Stan Devlin said Botill’s lungs contained fluid, and Gillio earlier said an autopsy pointed toward “pulmonary vascular congestion with mild edema.” However, the congestion could have appeared after death, Gillio said, and police did not yet know the cause of death.
Arnold Josselson, a medical doctor and consultant for Emeryville-based American Medical Forensic Specialists, said by phone that fluid – similar to salt water – is released from a person’s blood vessels when oxygen can’t pass into them. While pulmonary vascular congestion is consistent with an alcohol-related death, he noted that it could be caused by any number of things.
Family members said that Botill had no apparent health problems, Gillio said.
A person’s blood alcohol content must be at least 0.2 percent to die from alcohol poisoning, he said. According to a blood alcohol chart from the University of Wisconsin, a female weighing about 90 pounds would need to consume 6 ounces of 80-proof liquor within an hour to attain a 0.2 percent blood-alcohol level.
Following investigative interviews, police said that Dunigan, a senior at Gilroy High School, left the household of ex-Councilman Roland Velasco about 5 a.m. – an hour after Botill vomited multiple times.
“(Dunigan) indicated to us that she didn’t like the sight of seeing someone throw up, so she wanted to leave the residence,” Gillio said.
After a birthday dinner and cake about 6 p.m., the girls snuck out of the house about 10:45 p.m. and went to the home of a 15-year-old son of a Gilroy police officer, Gillio said.
However, he would not identify the officer after the press conference, saying that it would cause the boy to be identified. At the house, Botill grabbed a 12-ounce beer from the refrigerator while she was there and she may have drank about one quarter of it, police said. However, the 15-year-old boy took it away from her, police said. The police officer who lived there was asleep at the time, Gillio said.
Back at the Velasco home, the girls had snacks and drank vodka for the next two hours, police said. After vomiting at 4 a.m. in the bathroom, Botill slept in there in case she became sick again, police said. At 8 a.m., the 16-year-old woke up and Botill told her she was not feeling well. At that point, the 16-year-old asked her mother, Lisa, for help. The two teenagers donned bathing suits – with Botill speaking and responsive at this point – and took a 20-minute shower to clean off the vomit. Botill sat upright in the bath-shower combo, police said. Police did not make clear what assistance Lisa Velasco provided.
When Botill exited the shower she became unresponsive but was breathing fine. At 8:44 a.m., Botill’s breathing became labored and Roland Velasco, a policy aide for Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage, called 911. Roland Velasco performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Botill and continued until paramedics arrived, police said. Police indicated that Roland Velasco was trained in CPR.
Botill was pronounced dead at Saint Louise Regional Hospital at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 5.
Drinking was not typical behavior for Botill, police said.
“My understanding is that (Botill) was not a drinker, and she never had issues with alcohol,” Devlin said.
Botill had sampled her mother’s wine in the past, but she did not like the taste of it, he said.
Police have been in contact with Deputy District Attorney Dana Overstreet, who handles cases of deaths with unnatural causes, district attorney’s office spokeswoman Amy Cornell said. However, prosecutors will not decide whether to press charges until they receive a full report when the police investigation is complete, Cornell said. Police said it may take four to six weeks for the coroner’s report to be complete.
Friends of Botill at Wednesday’s vigil said that some fellow high school students will likely heed the alcohol safety message stressed by vigil organizers, while others will not. Still, organizers hope the event would spur students to make wise choices.
“In the end, it’s really up to you as young adults to make decisions that hopefully will be productive in your lives,” Gilroy Unified School District board member and event organizer Francisco Dominguez said.
