An autopsy conducted by a Tennessee medical examiner confirms that a death this year at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival was the result of an accidental drug overdose. WPLN News obtained the report through the state’s open records act.
According to the autopsy, released Thursday, it was a mix of cocaine, alcohol and antidepressants that killed 29-year-old Lee Ann Sizemore of Indiana. Sizemore and her best friend were among the more than 40,000 festival-goers, and Sizemore went on a walk alone before bed. When her friend woke up, Sizemore had no pulse, so the friend started CPR.
She never revived and was declared deceased later that Sunday morning, June 19, at Unity Medical Center in Manchester.
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The autopsy was performed the next day. The medical examiner did not find fentanyl, though the powerful synthetic opioid has been the focus of most overdose prevention efforts in recent years.
Bonnaroo, which returned after a two-year pandemic hiatus, has ramped up in light of past fatalities. For the first time, festival organizers allowed distribution of the overdose reversal drug naloxone, though it only works on opioids like fentanyl. Bonnaroo has not yet welcomed fentanyl test strips, though they have been decriminalized in Tennessee.
Bonnaroo officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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