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Coroner: Augusta Woman Died from Drug Overdose, Not Assaults

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An Augusta woman’s suspicious death in April was due to a drug overdose, not the assaults that occurred in the days before her father found her body, Coroner Mark Bowen said Tuesday.

HannahHannah Newman, 22, of Oakdale Road, had been involved in a few fights before her father found her dead April 17, leading authorities to seek more answers.

But autopsy results concluded the assaults did not cause her death. It was from the toxic effects of taking Aprazolam, the coroner said.

“The cause of death is from a drug overdose complicated by medical issues,” Bowen said.

Bowen said Newman likely took too many Alprazolam pills. “We get a lot of deaths from Alprazolam,” he said.

Alprazolam is used to treat anxiety disorders, panic disorders, and anxiety. It is often abused and a common drug sold on the streets.

Newman’s last week was pretty violent, according to reports obtained by The Jail Report. At 3 a.m. April 16, Newman told deputies that she was jumped on by a group of females. She said she had been punched in the face by a woman earlier in the night at 11th and Ellis streets. She reacted by telling the attacker to come to her house if she wanted to finish it.

Thirty minutes later, three women showed up at her home and she was punched twice in the face by the same woman and then attacked by two others. A witness said one of the attackers threw a water meter cover at Newman.  A deputy noticed that Newman’s right eye was swollen and she had a small laceration below her right eyebrow.  She declined EMS.

Newman was also a suspect in a an incident from the same night she was attacked. According to a report, a woman says Newman shattered the driver-side window of her car by throwing something at it. The car owner said she was watching the group attack on Newman, but Newman got mad and told her to “get out of here.”.

Newman’s father, George Newman, told authorities that he found his daughter unconscious on the floor of her bedroom. He said he last spoke to her on April 16 about 20 hours after the attack.

 

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Greg Rickabaugh
Greg Rickabaugh
Greg Rickabaugh is an award-winning crime reporter in the Augusta-Aiken area with experience writing for The Augusta Chronicle, The Augusta Press and serving as publisher of The Jail Report. Rickabaugh is a 1994 graduate of the University of South Carolina and has appeared on several crime documentaries on the Investigation Discovery channel.
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