The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When the lunch bell rang, she wasn't breathing
Mia Dieguez looked ill, and teacher thought she was just resting.
Mia Dieguez entered Dunwoody High School classroom 1102 the morning of May 6 looking sickly. She lay her head down.
“Mia typically slept in class, so when class began, Mia rested her head on her desk,” her teacher would later tell police, according to an incident report. “Mia had appeared ill the previous Thursday and had slept during class that day ... Mia had seemed unwell for the past couple of days.”
She asked to go to the nurse’s station for water, and sat down at a different desk when she returned the morning of May 6. Again, she put her head down, for the duration of the class period.
Her teacher “assumed Mia was simply sleeping,” the Dunwoody Police Department report said.
When the bell rang for lunch, other students tried to rouse Mia. They realized her skin tone had changed, and she wasn’t breathing, the report said. Someone called authorities. Upon arrival at 12:28 p.m., the responding officer found the school nurse and school resource officer attending to Mia. A defibrillator was attached to her chest and Narcan had been administered, the report said.
“Upon checking Mia’s wrist, I did not detect a pulse,” the police report said. The officer began chest compressions until DeKalb County Fire and Rescue arrived. Mia was airlifted to Children’s Scottish Rite Hospital. The Dun
woody officer rode with her.
At 1:40 p.m., a doctor at Scottish Rite pronounced Mia dead. She was 15.
Family members have sug- gested Mia died after taking pill laced with fenanyl given to her by someone at school. Officials have not confirmed a cause of death but the Dunwoody police report cited “a faculty member stating that Mia sometimes takes unpre- scribed drugs” and said “a student claimed Mia had consumed a gummy earlier that morning.”
A suspect was arrested Tuesday on charges includ- ing involuntary manslaugh- ter. The suspect is a minor whose identity has not been publicly released; he or she would be tried in juvenile court, the DeKalb District Attorney’s Office said.
The newly released Dunwoody Police Department report suggests a difficult home situation and quotes a family member saying, “Mia occasionally used drugs rec- reationally, including Per- cocet.” The case remains under investigation by the DeKalb Medical Examiner’s Office. Autopsy and toxicol- ogy reports were still pend- ing, department Director Pat Bailey told the AJC.
The community has ral- lied around the family, surpassing the fundrais- ing goal on a GoFundMe page created to help pay for funeral expenses. Mia was mourned with a balloon release Wednesday afternoon at Brook Run Park, where more than 100 friends, fam- ily and community mem- bers gathered in her honor.
Classmate and friend Ade- lyn Johnson painted a por- trait in Mia’s honor. Friends described her as a warm, happy and positive person who faced unseen, inner struggles. A passionate soccer player, Mia wanted to join the military someday.
“We all have hidden secrets that we can’t talk about and I know she fought them daily, but I do want people to know that it wasn’t intentional,” her sister, Paola Covarrubias, told the AJC. “She didn’t want to die, and I wish some people would stop making assumptions about the situation.”
Jordan Davis, a fellow 10th grader, said Mia was “the happiest and most positive person.” He brought white flowers to the balloon release and said he was still processing his friend’s death. Davis said he’d known Mia since they met at Peachtree Middle School.
“I hope we can all remember her as the fun, goofy and sweet girl she was and not for the reason of her passing,” her sister, Paola Covarrubias, told the AJC at the event.