Autopsy Fails to Find Cause for Kindergarten Girl’s Death

A coroner’s autopsy Tuesday could not determine what caused the death of a Telfair Avenue Elementary School kindergarten girl who became ill after eating her lunch and then collapsed at the campus, just a few feet from her mother.

Five-year-old Mayra Venegas finished her school lunch Monday, then stood up and told her mother she was having pains, said Los Angeles school district officials. Moments later, she collapsed and was taken to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, where she died.

Scott Carrier, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, said officials will now perform toxicology tests, and study brain and spinal cord tissue. These studies can take as long as 90 days, Carrier said.

“It’s going to take these tests to be performed before we can rule in or rule out anything,” he said.

District officials were waiting for the results of the autopsy before conducting an investigation, said Brad Sales, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

District administrator Maria Reza said a kindergarten teacher and the school’s cafeteria manager tried to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation soon after seeing the little girl collapse. The school nurse arrived minutes later to assist the teacher before paramedics arrived, Reza said.

“Everything that could have been done was done for this child,” Reza said.

Crisis counselors returned to the school Tuesday to counsel teachers and pupils.

The little girl had been attending Telfair for four weeks. Mayra’s mother was at the school Monday to pick up her daughter at the end of the kindergarten session.

Reza said the school has begun a fund to assist Mayra’s parents with funeral services.