By Shannon Marvel
American News
ABERDEEN — Sarah Lee Circle Bear died of a methamphetamine overdose while in Brown County Jail, some 52 or so hours after being taken into custody.
The 24-year-old Claremont woman died the afternoon of July 5. An autopsy released Thursday by the attorney general’s office explains the death was due to acute methamphetamine/amphetamine toxicity.
As the state’s investigation now turns to the source of the meth, a timeline is becoming clear that limits when Circle Bear could have been in possession of the drug.
Circle Bear was initially taken into custody July 3 by the South Dakota Highway Patrol after being involved in a traffic accident in Roberts County around 7 or 8 a.m., said Sara Rabern, spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office.
Wayne Pahl was also in the vehicle with Circle Bear during the accident, Rabern said. Both taken to the Roberts County Jail.
At the Roberts County Jail, it was discovered that Circle Bear was wanted in Brown County for a bond violation. She spent most of July 3, a Friday, in the jail until she was taken to the Brown County Jail, Rabern said.
Circle Bear arrived at the Brown County Jail just before midnight on July 3, Rabern said.
Generally, when an inmate goes through the intake process at the Brown County Jail, he or she is required to undergo a health screening. Staffers ask the inmate a series of medical questions, including about the use or ingestion of any drugs or alcohol.
Authorities have not said if Circle Bear was intoxicated or on drugs when she was booked into Brown County Jail.
On July 5, Circle Bear was found in a holding cell unconscious and unresponsive and taken to Avera St. Luke’s Hospital, where she was declared dead by a doctor.
Brown County coroner Michael Carlsen said Circle Bear was declared dead at 1:22 p.m. July 5 at Avera St. Luke’s Hospital. However, a Marshall County court document seeking court-appointed attorney fees concerning a case in which Circle Bear faced minor drug charges includes a clerk’s note that Circle Bear died in the Brown County Jail.
From the time Circle Bear was arrested in Roberts County until the time of her death, she was in custody.
It is unknown as to how the toxic and deadly levels of methamphetamine found a way into Circle Bear’s bloodstream, and her father, Terrence Circle Bear, has his doubts about the cause of death.
“How did she get that much meth?” Terrence Circle Bear said by phone Friday.
Circle Bear said another daughter, Adrienne Yancey, is in possession of the jumpsuit Sarah Circle Bear was wearing at the time of her death.
“It had blood on it,” Terrence Circle Bear said. “How do you explain that from a meth overdose?”
The reason Circle Bear was wanted on a bond violation in Brown County stemmed from her being arrested in January and charged with second-offense drunken driving, according to court documents.
They also reveal that jail staff had dealt with Circle Bear before.
A March 26 email from jail nurse Tanya Mitchener to magistrate Judge Mark Anderson noted that Circle Bear had medical issues.
“Sarah has Hepatitis C and the doctor did some lab work last week and they called with the report today saying that she’s at risk for a gastrointestinal bleed and they want to refer her to a liver specialist out of Sioux Falls,” the correspondence read, in part.
Circle Bear’s family said that she was pregnant at the time of her death. But, according to Carlsen, evidence of a pregnancy was unfounded during the autopsy.
Carlsen also said that the autopsy showed no indication that Circle Bear had, for example, swallowed a plastic bag that contained methamphetamine.
Brown County Sheriff Mark Milbrandt declined Thursday to comment until an ongoing state investigation into the source of the meth is finished.