The Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office in Anoka County found traces of two different drugs in the body of Laura Schwendemann, an 18-year-old University of Minnesota-Morris student who was found dead in an Orange Township, Minn., farm field in October.
In a Monday press release, the office listed use of methamphetamine and THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, as a “significant condition” contributing to Schwendemann’s death. The cause and time of her death are still unknown.
A 21-year-old man from Starbuck, Minn., told authorities he panicked and hid Schwendemann’s body in a cornfield after she overdosed, the Star Tribune reported. He could face up to a year in prison for concealing the body.
Earlier this year, Minnesota passed an amnesty law that protects people from prosecution for drug possession if a medical emergency is reported.
Schwendemann was last seen alive at a Holiday gas station in Alexandria, Minn., before she went missing Oct. 14. Douglas and Pope County sheriff’s offices conducted ground and air searches in a number of townships nearby.
A farmer found her body in a field southeast of Alexandria, Minn. Police identified her body on Oct. 30.
