Deaths of 2 Mesa teenage girls in January ruled accidental

MESA, Ariz. (AP) — The deaths of two teenage girls in January have been ruled accidental with both drowning in a water retention basin, Mesa police said Tuesday.

They announced that the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office determined 17-year-old Sitlalli Avelar and 15-year-old Kamryn Meyers drowned “in the setting of acute alcohol intoxication” with Meyers also having signs of recent marijuana use.

Officers responded to a call about a body in the water northwest of Superstition Springs Mall on Jan. 21.

Police said the bodies of Avelar and Meyers were discovered a few yards from each other.

The two girls had been staying at a Mesa group home and were believed to be runaways, according ti police who said they’re still trying to determine what the girls were doing before their bodies were found.

“Right now, there is nothing to say foul play was a factor,” police said in a statement Tuesday.