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New test done in student death
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP)
Another test will be done in an attempt to determine if a college student found dead in her submerged car in the Fox River had been given a date-rape drug as her family suspects, a Brown County official said Friday.
Medical Examiner Al Klimek said the new toxicology test on the blood of Mahalia Xiong would check for more compounds than an initial toxicology panel, which came back clear of any date-rape substances.
While date-rape drugs are quick to move out of the bloodstream when someone is alive, once circulation stops, the substance level stays static and can show up on tests, he said.
The family of the 21-year-old University of Wisconsin-Green Bay student held a news conference Thursday evening near the place where her car was pulled from the water July 26. The car was found after a police officer spotted car tracks leading to the river.
The family announced suspicions that she may have had a drug put in a drink while out with friends before she drove away, headed for home, and disappeared early on the morning of July 13.
Relatives also said they want the body exhumed for more analysis and to see if she was still alive when she went in the river. But Klimek said there is no reason to exhume the body because he doesn’t believe further tests would provide any useful information.
“The same thing goes for any further toxicology testing that we may want to do,” Klimek said.
Once all the tests and police investigations are done, the most likely scenario may turn out to be that she drove herself into the river, Klimek said, and if that’s the case, it may be impossible to determine why it happened.
Melissa Sinitsky, Xiong’s sister, said after Klimek’s comments that the family still planned “to go a different route.”
“Pretty much, you know, we’re just having a different person, a different medical examiner or pathologist who is going to be looking at this, her samples and things like that,” she said.
