Girl died of drug overdose

11-year-old had cocaine in hr blood, police say

By Beth Silver

St. Paul Pioneer Press

An 11-year-old girl whose body was found two weeks ago with a coat draped over it on a Minneapolis sidewalk died of a cocaine overdose, the Hennepin County medical examiner ruled Friday.

Sidney Mahkuk was found the morning of Oct. 23, and for days neither police nor the medical examiner's office said they had a clue as to how she got there. Minneapolis police said when they found her, there were no apparent signs of trauma, drug overdose or foul play.

Her mysterious death stumped police and prompted outcries from Sidney's family for any help from the public that might give them answers.

The initial autopsy did not reveal the cause of death until a toxicology report came back that indicated she had cocaine in her blood, investigators said.

Police Capt. Rich Stanek said it was unclear whether the girl ingested the cocaine herself or whether someone administered it to her.

"Whether someone provided the cocaine to her or enabled her to get or take the cocaine doesn't matter to us," Stanek said. "We are going to aggressively pursue anyone who was involved."

Sidney's sister, Sugar Askenette, said Friday that Sidney had trouble staying in school, but she never took drugs.

Shortly after Sidney's death, her mother, Glenda Askenette, described her as a good and happy sixth-grade student who especially liked spelling at Sanford Middle School. But Minneapolis Public School District records indicate she never attended classes this year and was automatically withdrawn after 15 consecutive absences.

Sidney had been missing for days, but no one had reported her so, police said. In fact, her mother didn't know her daughter's whereabouts until police told her Oct. 25 that they found the girl.

Sidney's mother said she last saw her about 7:30 p.m. Oct. 22. Sidney left with Askenette's son's ex-girlfriend for a short drive around the block, her mother said.

Police believe Sidney died between 2:30 and 7 the next morning, Stanek said. She was found about 7:30 a.m. in the 2500 block of Columbus Avenue South.

"Now at least we're walking down a road here, and somewhere along this road is cocaine and at the end of the road is death. What happened along this pathway? These are the pieces to this thousand-part jigsaw puzzle that investigators are trying to put together," Minneapolis police spokesman Ron Reier said.

According to the 2004 Minnesota Student Survey of Twin Cities high school seniors, cocaine use among them has been on the rise. Despite decreases in use of alcohol and marijuana, those who had used cocaine the preceding year rose from 5.5 percent in 2001 to 6.1 percent in 2004, according to Hazelden Foundation's Drug Abuse Trends report.