The cause of death has been revealed for 15-year-old Jazmin Pellegrini, who tragically died in the driveway of a stranger’s San Francisco home on Lobos Street. Jazmin, who ran away from her family’s Bay Point home on April 17, was found just three days later. Her family had searched frantically for her and alerted the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office.
“This poor girl was abandoned by whoever she was with and left to die. “She could have been saved from it, but strangers ignored her,” her family wrote.
This week, the San Francisco chief medical examiner’s office released an autopsy report revealing Jazmin’s cause of death: a toxic combination of fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Jazmin’s mother is now demanding answers about what happened to her daughter during the time between her escape and her death.
“Who provided a minor with a lethal dose of fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine in San Francisco?” she asked.
“A tragedy has occurred so unreal and impossible to understand, with so many unanswered questions. We must discover the truth, correct systemic errors and punish the perpetrators,” wrote Jazmín’s mother, Marta Barany.
Jazmin Pellegrini was described by her mother as “a beautiful 15-year-old girl full of love, curiosity and enthusiasm.” She battled post-traumatic stress disorderanxiety and bipolar disorder, and her family alleges that medical providers were negligent and abusive to her.
On the night of April 17, Jazmín was released from the psychiatric unit of a Contra Costa County hospital in Martínez. Her mother had urged the hospital to hold her daughter longer, believing she needed to be in a safe place with health professionals and security personnel. However, the hospital staff refused, according to Jazmin’s aunt, Ametiszt Hajdu.
“Her mother knew she was not well, she could always tell just by looking in her eyes. When they took her home, she didn’t speak, she didn’t smile. She was not well,” Hajdu said.
During Jazmin’s time in county psychiatric hospitals over the past two years, she became dependent on medications. “Jazmín was not a drug addict, but he became dependent on substances during his hospitalization. Negligent medical establishments heavily medicated her. She was not provided any treatment beyond emergency medications, which often consisted of four emergency injections a day,” Barany wrote.
Jazmín’s tragic death highlights important flaws in the mental health care system for adolescents. “His family had been fighting to get him the long-term care he desperately needed, but the system never worked for Jazmín,” Barany wrote.
In response to her daughter’s death, Marta Barany created a GoFundMe page, “We Want the Truth for Jazmin Pellegrini,” dedicated to identifying and addressing gaps in psychiatric hospital facilities, social services, and child protective services.
