Prosecutor: Worth Teen Died Jumping From Car After Buying Pills
Updated 11/12/13 - 8 a.m.
WORTH, Ill. (CBS) -- An 18-year-old woman from southwest suburban Worth died when she jumped out of the car of an alleged drug dealer, after buying $200 worth of anti-anxiety pills, Cook County prosecutors said Monday.
At a bond hearing for the man charged in connection with her death, prosecutors said Brittany Wawrzyniak got into Eric Steven Johnson's car Friday night to buy 30 pills of clonazepam, an anti-anxiety medication. After paying Johnson $200, Wawrzyniak wanted to count the pills, but Johnson started driving off.
Wawrzyniak wanted to get out of the car, and jumped out of the back seat, hitting her head on the pavement of a parking lot at 115th and Beloit, in Worth, prosecutors said.
Johnson, 20, of Midlothian, has been charged with unlawful delivery of a controlled substance, in connection with Wawrzyniak's death. He was ordered held on $300,000 bond on Monday.
In setting Johnson's bond, Judge Adam Bourgeois said, "Many people are of the belief that selling drugs is not a violent crime. I disagree. Because he was selling drugs, someone is dead."
As of Sunday night, Wawrzyniak's mother still hadn't been allowed to see her body, making her already excruciating grief that much worse.
"They told us she was part of a crime scene, so they wouldn't allow us to see her," Rebecca Tully said. "I feel like I go through waves; like I'm okay for a few minutes, and then I'm on my knees, crying."
Tully said she believes her daughter was being bullied, and her death might somehow be tied to that.
Wawrzyniak's friends also have told her family she had possibly been beaten up by people associated with a woman who'd been harassing her.
Family and friends held a vigil for Wawrzyniak Monday evening, at the parking lot where she died.
