Girl, 10, dies of overdose

A Klamath woman was arrested over the weekend after her 10-year-old granddaughter died of an apparent overdose of the pain killer oxycontin.

Rayanna Danielle Lane Nail died sometime Thursday night or Friday morning, authorities said, and officials suspect the girl took prescription pills her grandmother had left on her coffee table.

“What it appears to be is this little girl just got into grandma’s medication,” Del Norte County sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Steve Morris said Monday. “Preliminary tests indicate that the little girl most likely passed away because of taking oxycontin.”

An autopsy for Rayanna was scheduled for Monday evening, and toxicology results to determine exactly what drugs were in the 10-year-old’s system could take several weeks to receive.

The grandmother, Terry Lane, 51, was taken into custody Saturday on suspicion of child endangerment and causing great bodily injury. She is currently being held on $100,000 bail in the Del Norte County Jail.

Morris said Lane claims she doesn’t know when Rayanna came to her home, and told authorities she must have been asleep when her granddaughter arrived.

When Rayanna returned with the potatoes she said, “Grandma is all soma’d out again and there are pills everywhere,” Kristina Nail said. Soma is a powerful muscle relaxer.

“Everything was just so normal, she was happy,” the mother said of Rayanna. “We ate dinner and played Skip-Bo (a card game) and then went to bed.”

At about 2:30 a.m. Friday, Kristina Nail said she was awakened by Rayanna, who was feverish with an itchy rash.

“We had been playing outside, chasing lizards and picking berries so I thought she had poison oak,” the mother said through tears. “I gave her Tylenol and then went back to bed with her.”

Kristina Nail said that she lay down on her son’s bed and held Rayanna’s hand as they fell back asleep.

“We were going to get school clothes the next day,” the mother said. “She was so excited.”

After getting up and making coffee, Kristina Nail said she thought it was odd that Rayanna hadn’t gotten up.

“I went back in to her room and she was lying on her stomach. I turned her over and it was awful ... she was gone.

“Somewhere between her going back to bed and when I got up, my baby left.”

Despite both parents attempting CPR, Rayanna was officially pronounced dead about a half-hour later at Sutter Coast Hospital.

Although only 10 years old,  Rayanna attended a “special class” at Crescent Elk Middle School, her mother said.

Rayanna was born in Crescent City. Her aunt and mother described her as a fun-loving child who enjoyed camping and the outdoors.

“She loved to play dress-up,” said her aunt, Dove Stewart. “She loved high heel shoes. I remember this green pair that were her favorite, she wore them always.”

Asked if she felt that her daughter’s death was due to the negligence of her grandmother, Kristina Nail answered emphatically, “yes I do.”

She said she went to Lane’s home later Thursday evening after Rayanna had come home.

“When I went up there she had pills everywhere, all over the floor and she was completely out of it,” Kristina Nail said.

At that point, she said she cleaned the pills up and locked them away, “but it was already too late.”

Lane had the pills due to a previous back surgery, Kristina Nail said.

She said Rayanna had taken her grandmother’s pills a previous time.

“I never thought she would do it again because she told me about taking it and had to go to the hospital,” Kristina said.

Authorities knew about Rayanna’s previous encounters with prescription medication. They said she had overdosed two times since Christmas, and had faked a third one.

“This little girl was a troubled little girl,” Morris said.

Officials from Child Protective Services and the Sheriff’s Office had spoken with the family previous to Rayanna’s death about her access to Lane’s medication, giving guidelines to keep the pills away from the 10-year-old.

“Grandma had a safe she was putting her prescription in,” Morris said. “She didn’t lock her pills up.”

For Mike Henderson, the coordinator for the county’s Drug Endangered Children program that aims to take kids out of homes where illegal drugs are present, this strikes at the heart of what he tries to prevent.

“This is the far extreme of drug endangered children when you have a fatality due to the use or misuse of prescription medications,” Henderson said. “We hoped to intercede on this one, but we missed.”

Rayanna’s death could have easily been prevented, he said, and it should be used as a teaching mechanism for parents or guardians who have potentially dangerous drugs in their home.

“The adults need to be responsible and ensure the safety and well-being of their child,” Henderson said. “One oxycontin is fatal to a toddler. They’re small pills and look like candy.”

The Del Norte County District Attorney’s Office still has not charged Lane formally with any crime. District Attorney Mike Riese said he expects to make a decision today on how he will prosecute Rayanna’s grandmother.

“Its easy to analogize those pills to a loaded gun,” Riese said. “They had a duty and responsibility to keep those drugs out of the child’s reach.”

He said at the “bare minimum” he will charge Lane with child endangerment. But he also said he could increase the charge to a form of homicide, such as involuntary manslaughter, depending on the facts surrounding Rayanna’s death and how much the grandmother was aware of the 10-year-old’s propensity to take her pills.

“What makes this one offensive is the grandmother knew. It happened before,” Riese said. “She was supposed to have (the pills) locked up.”

Instead, the medication was lying out on the coffee table, he said.

“The pills were there within reach.”