Police investigate death of local teen
The death of a former Putnam County teen due to an accidental drug overdose is being investigated by the Hendricks County Sheriff's Department.
Public Information Officer Brett Clark confirmed that an investigation is ongoing into the death of Danielle Carolyn Bowman, Danville.
Bowman attended North Putnam Middle School and High School before moving to the Danville area with her family a few years ago. Her father, Bob Bowman, had been an athletic coach at North Putnam at one time.
She was a graduate of Danville High School and was enrolled at IUPUI in Indianapolis.
Clark told the BannerGraphic that the circumstances of Bowman's death are under investigation, and no information was being released.
However, a relative of the teen has stated that Bowman ingested prescription pharmaceutical and was later rushed to Hendricks Regional Health in Danville after it was noticed that she was not moving. She died Tuesday at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.
Bowman's case has similarities to the December death of a Greencastle High School student.
An autopsy showed that Dietrich Jackson had ingested a prescription drug prior to his death on Dec. 15. Indiana State Police at Putnamville are investigating Jackson's death, and have made arrests of several people accused of supplying drugs to the teen, as well as supplying alcohol to minors at a party attended by Jackson and several minors.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, drug overdoses and other types of poisonings now kill more people than guns for the first time in U.S. history. Record numbers of people are dying in the quiet epidemic, mostly from prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin and methadone.