A teen slumber party in California turned into a parent’s worst nightmare after a 14-year-old girl was found dead in her bedroom after drinking alcohol with her friends. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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Takeimi Rao, who had just graduated 8th grade, was found passed out on the floor of her bedroom at her home in Santa Rosa, Calif., around 9 a.m. on Sunday, cops said.
Her panicked mom called 911, but paramedics who arrived at the house pronounced the girl dead.
A cause of death hasn’t been determined, but investigators suspect Rao died of alcohol poisoning or could have choked while vomiting in her sleep, Assistant Sheriff Lorenzo Duenas told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
Three other girls, all 14, were at Rao’s house for a sleepover on Saturday, cops said.
Rao’s mother, Aleae Pennette, told police that she had taken the girls out for hamburgers for dinner.
At around 2 a.m., Pennette woke up and found two of the girls vomiting in the bathroom.
Pennette thought the girls had food poisoning and helped clean them up before helping them back to bed, cops said.
After Rao’s body was found on Sunday, cops discovered a half-emtpy bottle of vodka, which Rao had apparently swiped from her kitchen cupboard.
The three girls told cops they had mixed soda and vodka and passed it around.
It’s not clear how much the girls drank – the girls told cops they “didn’t like the taste” – but one said that Rao only took a few sips.
“Everything looks accidental, it looks like they didn’t know what was going on, it was teenagers exploring,” Duenas said.
Duenas said it was unlikely Penette or her husband, Scott Moyer, would be charged. Rao’s friends were not identified.
Shocked locals said that Rao was an outstanding student and dancer at Rincon Valley Middle School.
“She was one of those girls who was just the most respectful kid. You want your kids to hang out with her because she was that good of a girl,” Angie Phillips, whose daughter was Rao’s close friend, told the Press-Democrat.
Another family friend said Pennette was distraught and felt responsible for her daughter’s death.
“It makes us all think, what parent doesn’t have old alcohol sitting in our cupboards? (Takeimi) is a good girl and Aleae is such a good mom,” the friend said.
Investigators said the results of toxicology tests would be available in several weeks.
DN