Police probe girl's
unexplained death

YUBA CITY 4/29/02 (YSN) -- Police are investigating why 17-year-old Nicole Crowder died following a weekend party, a Yuba City Police Department spokesman said Monday.

A girlfriend found Crowder Saturday morning lying unconscious on a bedroom floor in the Messina Drive residence where about a dozen teenagers had partied the night before.

The friend took Crowder to Fremont Hospital where the stricken girl was pronounced dead about 11 a.m., Lt. Bill Ollar said.

Witnesses reported Crowder, who experienced headaches and vomited, may have consumed the drug "Ecstasy." However, detectives are presently describing the death as "unexplained," Ollar said.

An autopsy was expected Monday, but the precise cause of death may not be established until toxicological reports have been completed, which could take up to four weeks, Ollar said.

The party involved 10 to 12 young people, all 17 and 18 years old and most students at Yuba City High School, Ollar said.

"We're in the evidence-gathering stage. Any speculation about criminal charges would be entirely speculative," Ollar said.