Alcohol Believed a Factor in Santa Rosa Girl's Death at Sleepover

A 14-year-old girl died after apparently drinking soda spiked with
alcohol at a sleepover in Sonoma County on Saturday night, a Sonoma County sheriff's lieutenant said today.

The sheriff's office identified the girl as Takeimi Rao, of Santa Rosa, who recently graduated from Rincon Valley Middle School.

An autopsy is scheduled for today, but the cause of Rao's death won't be determined until toxicology test results are in, Lt. Dennis O'Leary said.

Three other girls attended the sleepover at Rao's house, located in the 6000 block of Foothill Ranch Road in unincorporated Sonoma County north of Santa Rosa, O'Leary said.

At about 3 a.m., some of the girls became ill and vomited, and Rao's mother helped clean them up and put them back to sleep, believing that they had food poisoning, O'Leary said.

Rao's mother also looked in on her daughter, who appeared to be asleep in her bed, O'Leary said.

When Rao's mother went to wake her around 9 a.m., she was unresponsive and the mother then called 911, O'Leary said.

One of the girls admitted to bringing alcohol into the room, and sheriff's deputies recovered a bottle of alcohol, O'Leary said.

"The parents are really good parents and they were home the entire night," O'Leary said.

It's believed the girls were experimenting with alcohol they had found in the house, O'Leary said.

Friends are posting messages today on a Facebook page titled "Rest in Peace Takeimi Rao."

"I only had to hang out with you as much as we did for me to love you. I'll miss you girl rest in peace. I will never forget you," one post read.

"Nobody this young and beautiful should have passed away. Especially at 14. Everyone misses you. Hopefully this will all teach us a lesson. Somebody should have been there to prevent it. RIP," read another post.

Bay City News