PORT ANGELES — A 13-year-old girl found dead at a Beaver campsite in August overdosed on methadone pills, a toxicology report has concluded.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, which received the report last week from the state crime lab, is investigating how Lillian Star Taylor came into possession of the drug, said Detective Sgt. Lyman Moores.
Taylor was found dead in her tent on the morning of Aug. 27. She was camping with her mother and a few of her mother’s friends, who reported her death, authorities said.
Moores said the report concluded, based on what was found in her blood, that Taylor ingested about 10 pills, each containing 10 milligrams of methadone.
The detective said the period of time over which the pills entered her system is not clear, but he added that it is an exceptionable amount.
“It was a surprising amount for a girl her age,” he said.
Moores said detectives believe Taylor took the pills voluntarily.
Moores said criminal charges are possible for anyone who provided her with the pills.
He declined to comment on how Taylor may have gotten possession of the drug because the investigation remains open.
Methadone, a prescribed synthetic narcotic, is used to relieve pain or to help people stop using heroine, Moores said.
“We’ve been told that it’s possible even for an adult, if not used to taking those pills, to overdose on even one pill,” he said.
A woman who identified herself as the spokeswoman for Brenda Lesh, the girl’s mother — but who did not provide her name — said Lesh did not know that her daughter had taken the pills.
She declined further comment.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
