Teen exceeded lethal dosage, police say

BOUNTIFUL — Police said newly released toxicology reports indicate Samantha Mikesell had taken seven times the lethal dosage of an anti-depressant when she died in the company of a convicted sex offender.

The toxicology reports indicate Mikesell, 16, took imipramine. Police said it was the prescription Walter Andrew White, 38, had also been taking.

"It looks like she took it on her own, and he supplied it," Bountiful Police Lt. Randy Pickett said Tuesday.

Police said White claims he and Mikesell had made a suicide pact. Davis County prosecutors said the two had a friendship that escalated to a sexual relationship in October 2005 and continued up until her death.

Last month, police said White picked up Mikesell from her job at a Dee's restaurant, and the two went up to Mueller Park Canyon where they had been drinking and took the pills. Both passed out, but only White woke up.

A Davis County sheriff's deputy saw him wandering down the canyon scratched and bleeding. Bountiful police investigating Mikesell's disappearance learned of the man's relationship with the teen and eventually found her body after an intense search of Mueller Park Canyon on July 6.

Davis County prosecutors told the Deseret Morning News they are considering filing additional charges against White — including murder.

"We'll look through the criminal homicide statues and see what is applicable, if any," deputy Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings said Tuesday. "We are going to seriously consider it and contemplate whether we can meet the elements."

White is currently charged with second-degree felony child abuse. He is also charged with unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, unlawful sexual conduct with a 16-year-old, dealing in materials harmful to a minor, obstruction of justice and desecration of a body, all third-degree felonies.

White is a registered sex offender. He was convicted in 1996 of lewdness involving a child. White, who remains in custody at the Davis County Jail with bail set at $200,000, is scheduled to appear in Farmington's 2nd District Court on Friday for a roll call hearing.

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com