Newtown Teen Took DMT, Cops say, Man Arrested

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FractalStructure

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news local-beat
Newtown Teen Took “DMT,” Cops Say, Man Arrested
By LEANNE GENDREAU
Updated 10:40 AM EDT, Tue, Jun 8, 2010

Danielle Jacobsen, 17, of Newtown had been given a hallucinogen at a party before her body was found in a pond in Monroe, police said.

Police have arrested the 22-year-old man accused of giving her the drug, known as DMT. The drug, Dimethyltryptamine, is found in plants and is often snorted, smoked or injected, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Diversion Control.

Psychological effects include intense visual hallucinations, depersonalization, auditory distortions and an altered sense of time and body image. It can also bring about hypertension, increased heart rate, agitation, seizures, dilated pupils, involuntary rapid rhythmic movement of the eye, dizziness and muscular incoordination. At high doses, coma and respiratory arrest have occurred, according to the DOJ.

Jacobsen, a Newtown High School senior and honor student, was found in the pond alongside Northbrook Drive on May 30.

She had been at a small gathering at 1 Still Meadow Circle, Monroe, which is located in the Northbrook Condominiums, police said. Her body was located about 150 yards away from that residence.

Police said on Monday that Quentin Ham, formerly of Newtown, and now of Texas, gave her the drug during the gathering. The two had not before the night of the party, according to the affidavit.

Police said the drug was brought to Connecticut from Texas. Ham was arrested on a warrant by the Monroe Police Department and charged with distribution of a hallucinogenic substance.

Bond was set at $200,000. Ham was turned over to the custody of Department of Corrections.

Court records also show that Ham was arrested on May 30 and charged with second-degree breach of peace, second-degree reckless endangermenat and carrying a pistol without a permit. The Connecticut Post reports that he was arrested after telling police he wanted to kill himself.

Monroe police continue to investigate the untimely circumstances of Jacobsen’s death and said more charges may be forthcoming.
 
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What I dont get is where the proof is? Just that he gave her the drug. It seems like they just wanna attach a negative spin to DMT, which hurt nobody so far...

Not saying this guy's innocent or whatever... but what does it matter if she smoked dmt that night? You could smoke D and then have a normal rest of the night, as if it never happened, just 5 minutes later...

Is he suspected just cuz he gave her dmt that night? I hope theres another reason... the only way I can see this making sense is if she was attacked while in "DMT space" and couldnt respond, in which case it becomes stigmatized along with ketamine alcohol ghb and rohypnol as a tool for taking advantage of women

EDIT: oh, and he had a gun, and was apparently suicidal. well then, why blame the dmt?
 
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Seriously, way to put a ridiculously unnecessary and negative spin on DMT. Unless they are saying she died from the DMT, I don't even understand how it's relevant.
 
ya horribly written article. it doesnt give any details behind her death except to allude to it as a dmt related murder, even though the article says the guy was charged with break of peace and reckless endangerment.

only way that i can see her death being 'caused' by dmt is if she freaked out and somehow drowned/injured herself because she was beyond fucked up...would be a crazy way to die...
 
Well he was a dumb fuck for giving a 17 year old something as potent as DMT, which is anything BUT a party drug. I wonder what administration route she used cause smoked DMT only lasts a brief period but other routes I believe last longer. I wonder how she was able to get up and walk around under the influence, when I smoked it the only thing I could do was lay down and hold on as I was blasted into the ether and I couldn't see the outside world anymore my field of vision literally exploded into visuals and reality goes bye-bye. But if she did take it orally or I.V. and she tried to walk around she probably wouldn't be able to see where she was walking and could have fallen into some water. So sad it has to be illegal and no harm reduction is taught to young people.
 
http://www.ctpost.com/default/article/Teen-s-final-hours-detailed-in-arrest-affidavit-516364.php

BRIDGEPORT -- A Newtown teenager tries a new and exotic hallucinogenic for the first time and ends up alone and dead, floating in three feet of water.

New details of the final hour of 17-year-old Danielle Jacobsen's life were contained in an arrest warrant affidavit obtained for 22-year-old Quentin Ham, accused of supplying her with the drug.

Newtown police received a complaint from Grace Eturaspe May 28 that her granddaughter, Danielle, had been missing for two days. Police said the grandmother told them Jacobsen might have gone with friends to the Northbrook condominium complex in Monroe.

Two Newtown officers and one from Monroe went to the Stillmeadow Circle condominium, but said there was no answer and the condo appeared to be vacant. Police said they were told by neighbors that the occupants had moved the day before. While searching the area, a Newtown officer spotted what appeared to be a body floating near the edge of a pond.

When they pulled the body out police said they saw it was a young woman.

Police said they later questioned Steve Orrico, who they said told them he had brought Jacobsen to the condo on May 29. Police said four other people had been in the condo at the time: Garrett O'Connor, who rented a basement room there, Roderic Kiely, Jonathan Hartlett and Quentin Ham.

Police said Orrico told them Jacobsen and Ham had left for about 30 minutes to go to Ham's home at 5 Birch Rise Drive in Newtown to get some dimethyltrypamine, or DMT. When they returned, Ham dumped a yellow powdery substance onto the dining room table.

Police said Ham divided the powder into four small lines, telling the others they were "big lines and were a lot for the first time." O'Connor, Ham, Kiely and Jacobsen then took turns snorting the lines of powder, police said. The four then stretched out on the living room floor.

At some point, police said, Jacobsen got up and asked for the whereabouts of her cell phone and purse. Police said Orrico told them Jacobsen appeared agitated, wanting to know how long the drug's effect would last. She laid down, but got right up again, complaining she was going to vomit. She then left the condo.

On May 30, Kiely called the Newtown Police Department. Ham was distraught about Jacobsen's death, he told officers. They had driven in Kiely's father's van to a field behind a CVS drug store on Queen Street in Newtown. Ham had a handgun and was threatening to kill himself.

Police arrived and stopped Ham before he could shoot himself. In the van, police said they found Ham's Blackberry phone with a message on it for Jacobsen's family.

"It was me," the message said. "I am responsible for this atrocity. I gave her DMT, and therefore I am the one you must hate for this. I cannot express what this feeling is that (I) have and I know I cannot repay you for the awfulness I have brought to your family. I have never met Danielle before that night, but I know she was a good person. I cannot live with this awful guilt, and I cannot live with myself. Please forgive Garrett and Steve. They are not to blame. Jon didn't do anything either. Obviously Rod is innocent, too. I am so, so sorry."

Ham was arrested Monday and charged with distribution of a hallucinogenic substance. He is being held in lieu of $200,000 bond.

She was found wearing black pants, two bras, a T-shirt, one sock and no shoes. Two knit boots were found floating in the pond.
 
Very sad shit, this happened right down the street from where I work. This is the kind of shit that happens when people don't recognize that some drugs are not recreational and can have serious consequences if not respected (true for all drugs, but some more than others).

My heart goes out to everyone involved in this tragedy. I hope they don't crucify Ham in court, because this obviously was an accident and not intentional, but my gut says he's going to be seeing more charges when the official toxicology report comes back.

~CTdopeLove
 
CTdopeLove said:
"It was me," the message said. "I am responsible for this atrocity. I gave her DMT, and therefore I am the one you must hate for this.
Click to expand...

Isn't this taking the responsibility thing a little too far?
I understand feeling upset that someone you just turned on to a beautiful chemical died...
But was it really your fault?
In what sense was it your fault?

If I gave someone a chemical like DMT, and they died, I don't think I would take responsibility for their death, unless there were very specific circumstances not directly related to the DMT.

Something is really weird about this to me.
 
I've never snorted DMT (not a snorter myself) but I've smoked it plenty of times.

++ and +++ levels are just colorful oil paintings of real life


++++ makes you shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down and pay attention


This article greatly confuses me
 
it sounds like she freaked out and was totally disoriented; vomited; fell face-down in a pond or hit her head falling backwards, and/or threw up and passed out and choked; the other kids were too freaked out/slammed on the floor to realize they needed to follow her.

so not DMT toxicity, but totally irresponsible etc. use of drugs, may have caused it. any number of other substances used this way could have caused it in much the same way. but DMT will be blamed, i suppose.
 
This is strange... Intranasal DMT only lasts about 20-40 minutes. It seems like a weird thing that she would have drown herself so quickly.

150 yards from the residence is really strange too, even if she tried drown herself, he (or someone else there) would probably have been able to go out and find her. He seemed sober enough to remember that she left.

So it goes like this:
A 17 year old girl goes and does drugs with four (assumed) older guys.
She goes missing for several days.
Her body is found in a pond several days later, right next to the apartment she was in.
The guys move the day after the incident (this is really incriminating). If she left and they didn't know where she went, why would they have moved from the apartment?
There don't appear to be any other witnesses.

I'd be interested to see if that autopsy revealed any foul play.
 
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slimvictor said:
Isn't this taking the responsibility thing a little too far?
I understand feeling upset that someone you just turned on to a beautiful chemical died...
But was it really your fault?
In what sense was it your fault?

If I gave someone a chemical like DMT, and they died, I don't think I would take responsibility for their death, unless there were very specific circumstances not directly related to the DMT.

Something is really weird about this to me.
Click to expand...

It was her first time

It says in the article that Ham said the lines were big for a first time user.

He had never met her before.


It's very possible this could have triggered something in her head or she had not understood what the effects would be prior to taking it. He could be feeling guilty that had he not been there, she'd still be living.

Shitty situation all around. I know I'd feel guilty if I dished out a line to someone I just met and they died afterwards. It'd be hard not to wonder if the drug did do something weird to them, since you didn't know the person at all.
 
When taking powerful psychedelic drugs I suggest having a sober sitter there. Even just one sober person who has psychedelic experience with a group of 20 or more tripped out revelers can make a HUGE difference if things get strange.

DMT is not to be toyed with. It is to be respected and appreciated, but not given to people who have basically no warning they are getting ready to be melded into the oblivion beyond.
 
slimvictor said:
Isn't this taking the responsibility thing a little too far?
I understand feeling upset that someone you just turned on to a beautiful chemical died...
But was it really your fault?
In what sense was it your fault?

If I gave someone a chemical like DMT, and they died, I don't think I would take responsibility for their death, unless there were very specific circumstances not directly related to the DMT.

Something is really weird about this to me.
Click to expand...

She started to freak out and wanted to leave. I for sure recognize that situation, gathering up all their things in a panic, 'i gotta get outta here' 'wheres my phone, i need help, i gotta call 911' situations. You don't let those people out of your sight, you certainly don't let them leave the house in the middle of a trip. I've used physical force at least three times to stop someone beginning to freak out on a psychedelic from leaving the 'safe place' set up in advance because I knew they could hurt themselves or others and probably would keep freaking out more and more either way if they left. I don't doubt you've run into this exact kind of situation before, possibly involving them stripping off their clothes, lol you start to notice patterns in the way people spiral into a bad trip over time... anyway, bottom line, you don't let someone like that go. And I think the kid with the DMT may be experienced enough to know that, and he watched her start to lose it and leave..

It seems he had experience with the drug, he knew he was playing with fire, and he didn't do anything to stop her from leaving, for whatever reason. I know I would feel guilty in those shoes, that's why I've gone to some pretty crazy measures in the past to restrain, detain, and then help mentally maintain and stabilize freak-ers, ESPECIALLY if I have helped in the substance acquisition process.

I feel horrible for the kid(s), and I completely understand why he would feel this guilt. Alas, it was a mistake, he may have been so far in he wasn't 'in the room' any more and HE wasn't the person who was still firmly planted on planet earth enough to see her running around gathering her things and then leaving to be able to give the description later.. I don't know..

I feel for the kid. Maybe he really couldn't stop her if he wanted to.. Even if he couldn't though, I would feel bad if anything happened to someone while they were on something I helped them get. I would feel like a complete Fail if I was THERE while it happened.


Who knows what was going through her head. Who knows if she was just afraid of what she was seeing. Who knows if she was raped by a relative or close friend and the repressed memories hit her. Fight or flight kicked in and there were plenty of warning signs though.. she shouldn't have been allowed to leave the house.. I've stood up in the middle of salvia trips WITH OUT KNOWING IT because a friend was starting to panic and had stood up and was about to take off running. I had almost zero real visual input, I WAS tripping out of the world, not even knowing where I was, but I some how sensed the panic and got up and stopped him from running, and as we came down into the room again even as I was still lost not knowing completely where 'here' was and the overwhelming feeling of unsubstantiated FEAR dominated, I was able to talk him into staying in the apartment and not turning the knob his hand was on to run outside. -I wouldn't know about the beginning part in detail if it wasn't for our sober-sitter who told the story with wide eyes after we came down- he didn't even have time to get up to assist the freak-er, I was on the situation somehow before him lol

I dunno.. Personally, I've always been the 'go to guy' for information about drugs and the like with my acquaintances. Frankly I know a lot of idiots, and they all like to try different drugs, and none of them are the 'look it up first' type. When people come to me like that I feel obligated to help keep them safe. For years I've felt like a Shepard in my circle like that. That's why I'm not a dealer I guess, I could never take a potentially dangerous chem and just start distributing it randomly to people, I would feel personally responsible for every trip, couldn't handle that burden.. I don't know... I want to hear more details about what happened. I think feeling guilty is only natural here though. Despite the details, four went in, three came out, and one of the three brought the fire works that someone got hurt with. Proper safety procedures were not followed... a beautiful thing when used safely by properly educated people, but potentially lethal on very rare occasion.

I hope they don't go too hard on him, obviously he's been torn apart by this and feels remorse that he will probably carry for the rest of his life.

This is all just more proof we need proper drug education, and harm reduction resources need to be brought to light in school systems. If people are going to use drugs, they should at least know where to go to find out what they are getting into. I doubt this girl ever heard of DMT, erowid, or a 'trip report'; If she had read about what she was going to experience before hand, how would the night have gone then? Would she not have panicked and ran off to drown?.. I have a strong feeling some education could have saved her life... fuck it, we'll never know. rant over

RIP
:(


Not sure the word 'hope' is appropriate here, but I hope there is no foul play uncovered here. At this point I assume they came down, and went to look for her, found the floater freaked out and ran (moved).. Hopefully nothing else happened. You can't hide shit anymore though, if there is a drop of evidence something happened to her before hand it will be found.

If this guy is trying to cover up a murder or gang rape or some sick shit like that by throwing her in water and DMT under the truck , it will be uncovered...ugh that would be lower than low... time will tell
 
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^I'm not sure it was even obvious she was freaking out. It just said she appeared "agitated," which hardly means that someone who's already tripping out of their own mind should pick up that signal as an indication of a possibly life-threatening freak out. It doesn't sound like she was acting in any way that's not within the normal range of reactions for a person's first time with DMT, so it's not unreasonable to assume she was asking for her purse and cell phone simply because she wanted to get some fresh air to relieve her nausea, chew some gum, and make a phone call to someone to calm herself down.

There was recently a report in TR about a person who used ayahuasca and ended up on his back in the middle of a shallow stream barely aware he was wet. It's plausible that the disorientation of DMT coupled with panic could lead one to accidental drowning.

It sounds more like there was a small amount of irresponsibility on everyone's part (the kind we've all been guilty of), including the victim, and unfortunate circumstances led to tragedy.
 
Maybe I've just seen a lot of people freak out, but those things described would all be huge flags to me that the person was losing it....... But in all fairness NOW they would be flags to me though, because I've been through it before and seen what happens when you don't intervene and calm the person down, or what can happen if you let them leave... First off, before a drug like that is taken all cell phones should be turned OFF first. You can wait 20 minutes to make your call or check your messages, no good comes from phones while tripping like that lol You handle the situation there, you don't leave a person alone for their first time at any point, if she wanted fresh air she should have been escorted. And if someones whacked out of their head and have no experience, how do you know the person they want to call would understand and be able to help in anyway? Odds are they are calling 911 or someone who will just freak out or confuse them by reacting in an angry or scared way, making the situation worse. People at the 'wheres my phone shoes I gotta get out of here' phase need to be talked to and not allowed to make calls, there are ways to handle the situation and get them relaxed. I don't care who it is, someone like that, a first timer especially, but anyone exhibiting the signs of fight or flight can not be allowed to leave. Phones- bad. Packing up all your belongings and wandering off- bad.

Very sad
 
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only way that i can see her death being 'caused' by dmt is if she freaked out and somehow drowned/injured herself because she was beyond fucked up...would be a crazy way to die...
Click to expand...

DMT lasts such a short time there is no way she would still be disorientated by then is there?
 
^
She had been at a small gathering at 1 Still Meadow Circle, Monroe, which is located in the Northbrook Condominiums, police said. Her body was located about 150 yards away from that residence.
Click to expand...
Given the ambiguities of timing in the story, it's entirely plausible she could have reached the apparent location of her death while still peaking. It's true that insufflated DMT lasts a short time -- I think around 40 minutes is typical -- but if it was a large dose in a small first time user female the duration of the most intense effects could be more than long enough for her to walk 150 yards and go into the water. I've overdosed on ayahuasca and proprioception was gone during the trip -- that is, my awareness of the position of my limbs was totally distorted. Perhaps she didn't know how to swim in the first place, we don't know, but accidentally falling into water because of disorientation and panic and then not being able to coordinate the movements of her body enough to stay afloat is a very real possibility. Even discounting that, she could have stepped into some deep water, fallen, and struck her head on a log. Regardless, I don't think it's accurate to say any drug killed a person unless it's totally plausible that its physiological effects alone are capable of causing death, and of course in the case of DMT that's not true. A number of factors likely contributed to her death, and there probably is no one cause or rationally defensible accusation of responsibility for the tragedy. We look for foul play because we want there to be some definite cause of death, something we can predict or deduce, so that we feel we have more control over the lives of ourselves and loved ones than we actually do.

EDIT: I'm not saying anyone who posted here is guilty of this, but I think we also personify chemicals like DMT that have given us beautiful and profound experiences. I love drugs and think they should be legalized and regulated, but at the same time I have to say I've definitely come across a lot of absurdly pro-drug opinions on drug discussion boards. We don't like the idea that something so great for us could play a strong role in something so tragic as this, so there is a, perhaps unconscious, motivation for us to look for ways that it could be otherwise. But I'm pretty sure even the "spirit molecule" is just a chemical that is totally indifferent to our joys and suffering.
 
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