The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner has ruled that 22-year-old Emily Beutner died of a drug overdose involving mitragynine, 7-hydroxymitragynine, quetiapine, and mirtazapine. She was found in a field near Sierra Highway and Technology Drive in Palmdale shortly after midnight on Jan. 6 and was pronounced dead at a hospital at about 2:10 a.m.
The medical examiner's finding was certified on Friday after a deputy medical examiner examined on Jan. 15, according to MyNewsLA, which reported the office ruled the death a drug overdose resulting from the combined effects of those substances.
Found By a Palmdale Highway
A passerby alerted deputies shortly after midnight on Jan. 6 to a woman in a "state of medical distress" near the intersection of Sierra Highway and Technology Drive, and paramedics transported Beutner to a hospital, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. Sheriff’s homicide detectives initially assumed control of the investigation, a routine step in cases where a young person is found under uncertain circumstances, and the medical examiner's office later requested additional testing.
What the Toxicology Shows
The medical examiner named mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine, alkaloids found in kratom, among the substances involved. Those compounds have been detected in overdose deaths in multi-state reviews, according to the CDC.
Prescription Meds and Amplified Risk
The report also lists quetiapine and mirtazapine, prescription psychiatric medicines with sedating effects. Federal guidance warns that combining opioid-acting or opioid-like substances with other central nervous system depressants can produce profound sedation and respiratory depression, and the FDA has recently stepped up enforcement against concentrated 7-hydroxymitragynine products because of their potency and consumer risk, according to guidance from the FDA and warning letters issued by the FDA.
Investigation and Aftermath
Austin Beutner, a former Los Angeles Unified superintendent who had been running for mayor, announced he was withdrawing from the race in February, the Los Angeles Times reported. Officials have not announced criminal charges tied to the death, and while the medical examiner's certification addresses cause, the sheriff's homicide bureau says its investigation remains active.
The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner notes that some cases are deferred while toxicology and other studies are completed, and that certification can take weeks or months, per the department's public guidance at the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner. Anyone with information about the case was asked to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and the family has requested privacy as they mourn.
