3 teen girls from the Wind River Reservation of Wyoming

CNN: Wind River teens died of methadone overdose
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
Filed Under: Law | National

Three teen girls from the Wind River Reservation of Wyoming died of a methadone overdose in a case that was ruled a homicide, CNN reports.

Ohetica Win Elyxis Gardner, 13; Winter Rose Thomas, 14; and Alexandrea "Alex" Whiteplume, 15, died after ingesting methadone at a home on the reservation in June 2008. The methadone apparently belonged to an elderly woman who rented the home from the Northern Arapaho Tribe.

"I said to my grandson, did you give them my pills? He said they were high already and he wanted to help them," the woman told CNN. She acknowledged that she didn't call authorities for more than 24 hours after the girls died, because she had been told by her grandson that they were sleeping.

The woman's grandson, along with another teen boy, reportedly pleaded guilty for their role in the girls' deaths. But the case has been shrouded in secrecy because it involved juveniles in the federal justice system.

"I wish I could talk because I would like people to know the real story because the rumors aren't true," the father of one of the boys told CNN. "I want people to know my real son."

The boys are reportedly serving sentences of less than two years. A federal judge has refused to acknowledge existence of the case or release more information about it.

Get the Story:
Mystery lingers, answers few in girls' reservation deaths (CNN 11/23)

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