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Adele Dombrowski was an accomplished high school student.

Steamboat Teen Died Of Seizure, Not Alcohol

Blood-Alcohol Level Very Low, Coroner Finds

POSTED: 6:21 am MDT October 5, 2005
UPDATED: 6:05 pm MDT October 5, 2005

A popular high school senior and member of a Christian youth ministry died of a seizure and had a minimal amount of alcohol in her system, Deputy Routt County Coroner Mitch Locke said Tuesday.

Adele Dombrowski, 17, died of "cardiopulmonary arrest consistent with a grand mal seizure," Locke said. Such a seizure is also known as a tonic-clonic seizure, according to the Epilepsy Therapy Development Project, a nonprofit research organization.

A toxicology report that was part of the autopsy performed by the Jefferson County Coroners Office determined Dombrowski had a blood alcohol content of 0.013, which is six times less than Colorado's drunken driving threshold of 0.08.

"There was not a thing in her," Locke said. "Alcohol had nothing to do with it."

Even though the autopsy report hadn't been released yet, Routt County Coroner Rob Ryg told people at Dombroski's memorial service last Friday that she didn't die of alcohol poisoning.

The night before she died, Dombrowski and some teenage friends traveled to Craig for a football game between Steamboat Springs and Moffat County. Witnesses interviewed by police indicated that Dombrowski was drinking that night along with the other teens.

A 20-year-old Steamboat Springs man was arrested the day after Dombrowski's death, after he allegedly purchased a bottle of rum and made it available to Dombrowski. The man, Kevin Miller Neuwirth, said he bought the alcohol from the Bottleneck Liquor Store, which was cited for selling alcohol to a minor. Neuwirth, who is also under age, told police the clerk at the store didn't ask him for his ID.

Dombrowski was a tennis player, reaching the state doubles semifinals in 2004. She also played hockey and volleyball, sang, played the flute, danced and choreographed dances. She was a member of Young Life, a Christian ministry aimed at young people.


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