Joliet girl’s death in drug-related incident remains unexplained – Shaw Local

The cause and manner of a 12-year-old girl’s death last spring in Joliet are considered undetermined, according to a report from the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.

On April 17, Mya King died after her mother, Colette Bancroft, 35, of Joliet, found her “face down and unresponsive” on her bed at their Joliet home, according to reports filed in a Freedom of Information Act request from Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.

A urine test of Mya was “positive for the presence of fentanyl,” but a postmortem toxicology of her blood was “negative for all substances tested in all samples,” according to an Oct. 19 report by Cook County Deputy Coroner Claire Sorensen.

“It is unclear why the postmortem toxicology of the hospital blood samples provided was negative for all substances tested. However, police investigations and hospital findings indicating drug overdose as the cause of death may continue to be pursued by these authorities,” Sorensen’s report states.

Sorensen’s report states that a drug overdose “cannot be confirmed by our investigations and additional studies and the manner of death is best confirmed at this time” and is therefore undetermined.

Mya’s cause of death was also considered undetermined. The coroner’s office had determined that Mya’s brain was deprived of oxygen due to cardiac arrest of unknown cause or the cause or origin of an illness.

According to Sorensen’s report, Mya’s autopsy revealed “no evidence of significant recent trauma.”

Joliet Police Sgt. Dwayne English said Mya’s case remains under active investigation as investigators “continue to work with both the Will County Prosecutor’s Office and the Cook County Coroner’s Office.”

Officers had responded to Bancroft’s apartment on April 14 when she reported that Mya was unresponsive. Following an investigation into the incident, Bancroft was arrested for probable possession of a controlled substance.

Court records Friday show no formal charges against Bancroft.

A preliminary investigation into the incident led police to believe Mya “had ingested suspicious amounts of heroin and fentanyl,” according to an April 18 statement from English.

Sorensen’s report said that Bancroft “admitted to a history of drug abuse” and that she had “several bags of white, powdery substance in her purse in the bedroom as well as a crack pipe.”

Sorensen’s report said family members who lived with Mya reported she “suffered from depression, previously smoked marijuana and sometimes cut her forearms.”

“There were concerns [Mya] She may have taken some of her mother’s medications,” Sorensen’s report states.