2 charged in overdose death of friend

DRAPER — Amelia Sorich's best friend and another person have been charged in connection with her drug overdose death — and for dumping her body in an attempt to hide the crime.

"It's satisfying," said Mike Sorich, Amelia's father. "It's not great, but it's better than anything that's been done before."

Three months ago, Amelia Sorich, 18, overdosed in Draper on a mixture of heroin and cocaine known as a speedball.

But instead of calling for help when she stopped breathing and vomited blood, her friends decided to take her body to the hills above Bountiful and dispose of it, charging documents say.

MaCall Aubrey Petersen, 18, and her boyfriend, Jasen Andrew Calacino, 19, are both charged with abuse of a dead human body, a third-degree felony, a crime for which they could spend up to five years in prison.

The two are also charged with negligent criminal homicide and obstructing justice, both class A misdemeanors.

And Petersen is charged with two counts of unlawful possession of a controlled substance, one each for cocaine and heroin. Each count is a third-degree felony.

Petersen and Calacino were booked into jail early in the investigation but were released on bail because they were not considered flight risks. Draper Police Sgt. Gerald Allred said they are expected to surrender to authorities soon.

"She trusted her best friend, and her best friend let her down," Mike Sorich said.

Charging documents say that during the late evening of June 25, Petersen made two speedball injections into her own arm and two in Sorich's arm.

Investigators believe it was the first time Sorich had used illegal drugs.

Sorich graduated from Bingham High School earlier in June and worked two jobs while she prepared for college. After she died, her LDS bishop, Michael Bellows, said she was a good student who excelled in math.

Mike Sorich said his daughter was respectful and used to call her parents every night to let them know her plans.

A few hours after injecting the speedball, about 4 a.m. the next day, officials say, Petersen and Calacino found Sorich unconscious and lying on the kitchen floor. Calacino wanted to call for help, but Petersen persuaded him to help her move Sorich to a couch where they could monitor her condition, according to the charging documents.