Jacob Sawyer and Robert Kibble
Pauviera LinsonST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) -
St. Paul police have arrested two men in connection with the likely overdose death of a 14-year-old girl after a party in Burnsville last weekend.
Pauviera Linson, 14, was found unresponsive in her bedroom by her 18-year-old cousin, Gerald Phillips, on Monday morning.
"When I woke up that morning, my stomach was queasy," he recalled. "I knew there was a part of me missing. I didn't know what it was."
Phillips told FOX 9 News his cousin's face was covered in vomit. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
"When I touched her, she was cold and I knew it," he said.
According to police, Linson and a 17-year-old girl went to a party in Burnsville on Sunday night with the two men -- ages 19 and 25 -- who are being held on suspicion of unintentional third-degree murder.
Investigators say the teens were given alcohol, marijuana and ingested a cocktail made of codeine cough syrup and Sprite -- sometimes called purple drank or lean -- at the party. The two men are accused of providing the substances.
Investigators say Linson and her friend were dropped off at the 14-year-old's St. Paul home, where they went to sleep early Monday morning.
The 17-year-old was taken to Regions Hospital where she was treated for a possible drug overdose. That girl is in fair condition.
Linson was going to be a sophomore at North St. Paul High School this year, and her aunt told FOX 9 News that her niece, known as Pauvi, planned to go to law school or pursue a career in fashion design after graduation.
"She loved life and had a long life ahead of her," Nancia Range said. "It was cut too short."
