ME: Danielle Jacobsen Accidentally Drowned

Danielle Jacobsen, the 17-year-old Newtown High School senior whose body was found submerged in water at a Monroe condominium complex pond on May 30, accidentally drowned, the medical examiner's office has ruled.

Jacobsen's cause of death was asphyxia due to drowning, according to a death certificate recorded by the Monroe town clerk on Monday. The manner of death is listed as an accident.

The hallucinogenic drug, dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, contributed to the death but did not cause it, according to the certificate. The finding suggests the medical examiner believes Jacobsen might have been hallucinating when she drowned in the pond.

Her mother, Francesca Jacobsen said Tuesday that when she last spoke with the medical examiner, she was told there wasn't a lot of water found in her daughter's lungs, and officials were thinking of calling it a "soft drowning," but had not made an official determination.

"There's still a lot of unanswered questions," said Jacobsen, who has requested a copy of the autopsy report. "I still feel like somebody didn't help my daughter."

The Newtown teenager was last seen with five young men at a Stillmeadow Circle unit in the Northbrook Condominium complex allegedly experimenting with DMT on May 29, according to an arrest warrant Monroe police issued for Quentin Ham, 22, a former Newtown resident accused of providing the drug.

At some point after taking the drug, Jacobsen allegedly got up from the living room floor where she and three others had been laying and left the condominium never to be seen again, according to Ham's arrest warrant, which cited statements by the two others who told police they did not take the drug.

While officials have said there were no signs of trauma to Danielle Jacobsen's body, her mother said she believes it might have been possible somebody helped place her in the pond.

"I want something done," Francesca Jacobsen said. "I need some justice for her."

Police have told her the case remains under investigation.

Monroe police Capt. Michael Flick said Tuesday the cause and manner of death will not change the case against Ham.

"After consultation with the state's attorney, there will be no further charges," Flick said.

Police said medical science is unfamiliar with what effects various concentrations of DMT has on the human body.

"The effects on the human body when DMT is in concentration are still being studied," Flick said. "Therefore there can be no determination of whether this could be a lethal or a non-lethal dose."

Ham remains in custody, having pleaded not guilty to two charges of distributing hallucinogenic drugs.

He also faces charges from Newtown police of carrying a pistol without a permit, second-degree breach of peace and second-degree reckless endangerment. He was allegedly found in a Newtown meadow carrying a gun and in a suicidal state on the same day Danielle Jacobsen's body was discovered.

Newtown police said they found a draft message he had composed on a Blackberry phone admitting to giving Jacobsen DMT and expressing remorse over her death.

Jacobsen was a high honors student with a bubbly personality who was set to graduate Newtown High School, and pursue a career as a clinical massage therapist.

Monroe Patch Editor Bill Bittar contributed to this report.

Editor's note: This article has been updated to include comments from the Monroe police.