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A Connecticut man is accused of sexually assaulting his 12-year-old stepdaughter, who was found dead in her home with a lethal dose of diphenhydramine — the active ingredient in Benadryl — in her system, according to authorities.
Anthony Federline, 39, was charged in April with first-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor after the death of Eve Rogers, according to the Enfield Police Department.
Authorities are now looking to search Federline’s Facebook and Snapchat accounts, the family’s CVS Caremark account and two Amazon accounts as part of a probe into the girl’s death, court documents show, according to WFLA.
Rogers was found dead in her home on March 18. According to court documents, her mother found her on her bedroom floor partially unclothed, with a blanket covering her lower body. Blood and other fluids were running down from her nose, the documents stated.
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A sexual assault kit was performed on the girl before her autopsy, and Federline was determined to be one of the “contributors from a DNA swab,” an arrest warrant said, according to WFLA. No charges have been filed in connection with the girl’s death.
The medical examiner told police that toxicology testing indicated a lethal dosage of diphenhydramine in the girl’s system. Fluoxetine, also known as Prozac, was also found in her system despite it not being prescribed to her, search warrants state, the outlet reported.
The report showed a diphenhydramine level of 23,000 ng/ml in Rogers’ blood, WFLA reported. Lethal concentrations are listed at 4,390 ng/ml for children and 14,720 ng/ml for adults, according to the report. The medical examiner said Rogers would have had to ingest about 1.8 liters of liquid diphenhydramine to reach the level found in her blood.
Investigators said it is unclear how she ingested the large dosage found in her system.
Rogers’ mother told detectives she used her Amazon account to buy medication, Sleep Aid capsules and a “sexual pleasure device” for her 12-year-old daughter, the outlet reported. However, investigators said no dyes were found in the girl’s system to indicate she had ingested Sleep Aid capsules, despite the high level of diphenhydramine detected in her blood.
Her mother also said she had found inappropriate conversations between her daughter and unknown people on the internet, but police did not find these conversations during their searches.
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Federline told detectives that he used applications such as Facebook and Snapchat to speak with his stepdaughter, but claimed the conversations were not sexual.
New search warrants show that investigators are probing Federline’s online activity for the months leading up to the girl’s death.
Federline has pleaded not guilty to the sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor charges. He is due back in court later this month.
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