Prof to 911: Student Who Died Did Coke
A professor tells a dispatcher he saw teen student doing drugs before she died.
May 16, 2008— -- A Phoenix professor whose student died after a social visit to the professor's condo told a dispatcher on the morning of her death that the young woman had been drinking and doing cocaine in his living room before he found her unconscious on his couch.
Andria Ziegler, a 19-year-old psychology student at Paradise Valley Community College, died at a hospital after paramedics responded to a 911 call placed by Michael Todd at 2:34 a.m. Sunday, April 20. The 51-year-old academic, who has since lost his professorship, had taught Ziegler for the two semesters prior to her death.
"We sat around [pause] while she did some coke," Todd told a dispatcher in the eight-minute call, which was released Thursday by Phoenix police after a Freedom of Information Act request. "And I went upstairs and went to bed."
"Apparently, she kept using," Todd, his voice quivering a bit, continued. "I come down about an hour and a half later, she was unconscious."
Click "here" to listen to Michael Todd's 911 call.
Todd's neighbor, identified as a woman named Pat, can be heard in the background calling to Ziegler to wake up. The dispatcher, who remained on the phone with the pair as they attempted to revive Ziegler, walked them through a sternum rub and mouth-to-mouth CPR. Todd's neighbor said she felt a slight pulse, saw some rising in the woman's chest and could hear gurgling as Ziegler attempted to take small breaths. Todd told the dispatcher he does not see any of that.
"Her lips are starting to turn a slight bit blue," Todd said.
The dispatcher asked Todd who the unconscious woman is. "That's Andria," he said, describing her as "just a friend."
The dispatcher asked whether Ziegler had been drinking and Todd proceeded to count 17 empty beer cans -- of which he claimed he drank just one.
Initial autopsy results failed to show an exact cause of Ziegler's death. Sgt. Joel Tranter, a spokesman for the Phoenix Police Department, said that authorities were eagerly awaiting toxicology report results, which he described as key.
Detectives from both the department's homicide and sex crimes unit are looking into the case. Todd is not considered a suspect in any crime because the cause of Ziegler's death remains unknown. Todd is, however, "obviously a person of interest" in the investigation, Tranter said.
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