The death of Emily Beutner, the daughter of former Los Angeles schools Supt. Austin Beutner, was the result of a combination of active compounds from the herbal substance kratom and prescription anti-psychotic and antidepressant medications, according to the L.A. County medical examiner.
The 22-year-old’s death has been ruled a suicide, the medical examiner said in a statement Friday.
Emily Beutner was found by the side of a highway in Palmdale after a passerby alerted authorities to a woman in a “state of medical distress” shortly after midnight on Jan. 6, according to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. She was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead at 2:10 a.m., according to the Medical Examiner.
A month later, Austin Beutner announced he was ending his campaign for L.A. mayor, citing grief over his daughter’s death.
The medical examiner determined her death was due to the effects of mitragynine, 7-hydroxymitragynine, quetiapine and mirtazapine. A deputy medical examiner conducted an examination of her body on Jan. 15, and the cause and manner of death were certified Friday.
Quetiapine is a prescription antipsychotic medication and mirtazapine is a prescription antidepressant. Mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine are active compounds found in kratom. All four substances can have sedating effects and slow or suppress breathing when combined, leading to death.
Kratom is an herbal substance derived from the leaves of the Mitragyna speciosa tree, which has active compounds that can act like opioids at higher doses. 7-hydroxymitragynine, also known as 7-OH, is primarily responsible for opioid-like effects such as pain relief and euphoria.
In November, the L.A. County Department of Public Health announced that it was banning the sale of all products containing kratom and 7-OH after six kratom-related deaths were reported in the county.
Some toxicologists say there isn’t enough research to provide a comprehensive understanding of what concentrations of kratom or 7-OH can be acutely toxic in the body. Most kratom-related deaths have occurred when the substance is combined with other drugs.
Emily Beutner was a student at Loyola Marymount University and was the youngest, and only daughter, of Beutner’s four children.
In a February statement announcing the end of his mayoral campaign, Beutner described her as “a magical person, the light of our lives.” i
Beutner served as superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District from 2018 to 2021. He also did a stint as former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s “jobs czar” and spent roughly a year as publisher and chief executive of The Times.
Times staff writers David Zahniser, Richard Winton, Noah Goldberg and Karen Garcia contributed to this report.
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