How Could You? Hall of Shame-Sitlalli Avelar and Kamryn Meyers cases-Child Deaths UPDATED

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From Mesa, Arizona, group home residents Sitlalli Avelar, 17, and Kamryn Meyers, 15, were found “dead in a water retention basin Saturday night, the Mesa Police Department said.

Officers were dispatched to a basin near Higley Roady and Southern Avenue at about 6 p.m. Saturday [January 21, 2023]. The officers reported finding the bodies of two teenage girls in the water.”

“Both were reported as runaways on Jan. 7 from a nearby group home in Mesa.

Anyone with information about the case can call 480-644-2211.”

Missing girls who ran away from local group home found dead in Mesa water basin

[12 News 1/26/23]

“Mesa police said both bodies showed signs they had been in the water for some time; that’s one of the reasons they say there was a delay between when the bodies were found Saturday night and when the names were released Wednesday morning. They also said they’re working now to find a cause of death, but that could take some time as well.”

‘It’s hard to believe she’s gone’: Days after bodies of teen girls found in Mesa, friends are trying to cope
[12 News 1/26/23 by Jade Cunningham]

They were at Jacobs Mission Community Center. That group home is one of several operated by Powerhouse Youth Facility Inc.

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update:“The deaths of two teenage girls in January have been ruled accidental with both drowning in a water retention basin, Mesa police said Tuesday.

They announced that the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office determined 17-year-old Sitlalli Avelar and 15-year-old Kamryn Meyers drowned “in the setting of acute alcohol intoxication” with Meyers also having signs of recent marijuana use.

Officers responded to a call about a body in the water northwest of Superstition Springs Mall on Jan. 21.

Police said the bodies of Avelar and Meyers were discovered a few yards from each other.

The two girls had been staying at a Mesa group home and were believed to be runaways, according ti police who said they’re still trying to determine what the girls were doing before their bodies were found.

“Right now, there is nothing to say foul play was a factor,” police said in a statement Tuesday.”

Report: Mesa girls found in water basin died from alcohol poisoning
[12 News 3/14/23 by AP]