Teen's grisly last hours

Erin Janea Justice desperately fought for her life the morning of March 27.

But those frantic efforts weren't enough to stop the 16-year-old Waubonsie Valley High School sophomore from being stabbed, drugged and drowned.

A DuPage County coroner's jury concluded Tuesday that Erin's death was a homicide caused by traumatic injuries and metabolic derangement.

The jurors' decision came after hearing a medical report stating Erin died as a result of being beaten, cut, drowned and poisoned by a mixture of over-the-counter medicines.

"Whoever is responsible for this is a monster," Erin's mother, Valerie Justice, said following the coroner's inquest.

Aurora police have questioned suspects in the case but have made no arrests yet. Officials believe Erin knew her assailant.

The 16-year-old girl was a popular athlete who belonged to the track team, liked to write poetry and was active in the Black Student Alliance. She had recently moved to Aurora from Naperville before her death.

Erin was last seen alive sleeping in her bedroom by her mother, who left for her job as a clerk at a car wash at 5:45 a.m. March 27.

After Erin didn't answer calls, a worried Justice returned home at 10:45 a.m. and found the front door of her townhouse partially open, although there didn't appear to be signs of forced entry. Erin's body was in the tub of the second-floor guest bathroom.

Toxicology reports showed the teenager's blood contained dangerously high - and in some cases toxic - levels of over-the-counter drugs. These included aspirin and Tylenol, plus medicines for allergies and colds that included Benadryl and DXM. Consuming the cough suppressant DXM in excess amounts can have the same effects of hallucinogens like LSD, causing loss of coordination, officials explained.

"It can put you in a euphoric state," Senior Deputy Coroner Jack Eichler said after the inquest. Officials said the drug could have lessened Erin's ability to fight back.

Aurora detective Guillermo Trujillo testified that the girl struggled with someone in the kitchen and then was led or dragged upstairs.

She fought with her assailant a second time in the bathroom and was forced or fell into the bathtub. Erin's face was above water, but the water line was close to her neck, police said.

She was not clothed when discovered. Officials said there was no mention of sexual assault in the medical report.

Trujillo said he saw one obvious cut on Erin's arm. A coroner's autopsy earlier concluded she suffered multiple stab wounds. Authorities also believe Erin's wrists were slashed to imply a suicide.

[House]

Ohmygod... how completely horrible... *speechless*

[Paralysis]

Drugs are our kick. Murdering is others.

Originally posted by drdªv€@Jul 14 2004, 03:53 PM
metabolic derangement

what. the. fuck.

[toshiro]

that is f*cked up!!! why would anyone kill someone by mixing OTC drugs
hopefully that girl was in such a heavy trip that she became fully dissassociated and that those drugs eventually would act as a full anaesthetic

there are some really messed up people in this crazy world

[ranticalion]

Wow... That's fucked up... Especially because I live in DuPage County only like 25 minutes from Aurora. They had a whole bunch of stuff on the local news about this.

[Kaiserin]

If only we had as many vigilantes as we did criminals....

[rfgdxm]

The facts in this news report seem fishy. How does the assailant first force a 16 year old girl to take a large OD of Benadryl and DXM, then wait for hours while doses build up to toxic levels, and somehow manage to keep her from throwing these up before killing her? More plausible scenarios to me seem to be:

#1) Assailant finds girl who after voluntarily taking these drugs to get high and she is totally wasted, and then goes beserk on her and kills her.

#2) Girl takes these drugs with the assailant present. Most likely scenario is she was just getting high with the assailant. If the assailant was supposed to be a sober sitter, this poor girl sure used bad discretion in choosing a trip sitter.

I'd sure like to see that autopsy report. Question is whether such is legally available? And, I see on the original news story the contact number for the detectives is available. They might be interested in talking to get information that might help them in the investigation.

[Ahhhh Tahh]

tis a shame what this world is coming to

[rfgdxm]

Another news report on this case:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/w...wslocalwest-hed

Aurora girl's violent death told
Coroner's inquest rules teenager was beaten, poisoned

By Art Barnum
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 14, 2004

A DuPage County coroner's inquest Tuesday revealed a violent picture of the last hours of the life of Erin Justice, a 16-year-old Aurora girl who was beaten, poisoned, cut and drowned in her bathtub in March.

Justice's autopsy, conducted by Dr. Jeff Harkey, was released Tuesday at the inquest on the Waubonsie Valley High School sophomore's death. The coroner's jury voted unanimously that her death was a homicide.

Her mother, Valerie Jenkins, called Aurora police to the home in the 300 block of Park Ridge Lane shortly before 11 a.m. on March 27, where the girl was discovered dead in a tub full of water in an upstairs bathroom.

Police said they had several leads, but as of Tuesday there has been no arrest.

"But this is still an active and ongoing investigation," Aurora Detective Guillermo Trujillo told the coroner's jury Tuesday.

Trujillo, one of the first officers at the crime scene, said: "There were signs of a struggle and altercation. There was foul play."

He said it appeared that the "struggle began in the kitchen, followed by someone being dragged to the second floor where another serious struggle occurred. She was eventually placed naked in the bathtub, with a laceration to her wrist."

Trujillo said that there was no sign of forced entry, although the front door was reportedly slightly open when the mother returned home.

Harkey's autopsy report was accompanied by a laboratory report that listed seven chemical compounds present in Justice's system, several of which were recorded in amounts well past any therapeutic levels and at the toxic levels.

The compounds all are present in numerous over-the counter medications, said Senior Deputy Coroner John Eichler. He said the compounds could be commonly found in cold or allergy medication, aspirin and other similar pain medications.

"We don't know if it was a single concoction or drank at different times," Eichler said.

Harkey's conclusion on the cause of death was traumatic injury and metabolic derangement. "Erin Justice was beaten, poisoned, cut and drowned," the report concluded. "Death took from minutes to hours to occur."

Eichler said Harkey's report did not mention possible sexual abuse. Jenkins left her daughter asleep in her room when she left for work at 5:45 a.m. After getting no responses to numerous telephone calls, Jenkins returned home about 10:40 a.m. and found her daughter.

More than a dozen members of Justice's family, including her mother and father, attended the inquest. Several of them become emotional during the proceedings and one was treated by Wheaton paramedics when she almost passed out.

Before Justice's death, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services opened an investigation that a family member had sexually abused Justice in the past. No result of that investigation has been announced.