Charge altered in teen's death

A man who prosecutors say gave antidepressant pills to a 16-year-old Bountiful girl who died of an overdose as part of a suicide pact is now facing a homicide charge in her death and will be back in court Sept. 22.

Walter Andrew White, 39, originally was charged with second-degree felony child abuse, but prosecutors have amended the charge to second-degree felony child-abuse homicide.

A document filed in 2nd District Court in Farmington this week also sheds some new light on the relationship between White and an unnamed teenage girl.

Among other things, the court document alleges that White was having a sexual relationship with an unnamed girl that began when she was 15; showed her pornographic Web sites; concocted plans for a joint suicide sometime between June and July; and provided the means for the girl to die.

Police said Samantha Mikesell, 16, who died from an overdose of the antidepressant imipramine, was involved in a relationship with White.

White, a convicted sex offender, had a prescription for the medication.

Mikesell's body was found July 6 in Mueller Park Canyon. Police found White wandering in the area with scratches on his body.

"On July 5, he went with the child to the mountains and claims to have ingested pills himself in an attempt to commit suicide," the document states.

Besides giving the girl prescription medication, the document says White "provided planning, instruction, transportation and the location to facilitate the victim's death."

After the girl died, White dragged her body into a secluded area and hid some of the pill bottles, the court document states.

White, who remains in the Davis County Jail on $200,000 bail, also is facing charges of unlawful sex activity with a minor, unlawful sexual conduct with a 16- or 17-year-old, dealing in material harmful to a minor, obstruction of justice and abuse or desecration of a dead human body, all third-degree felonies.

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E-mail: lindat@desnews.com