Top Selling Girl Scout Sabrina Keller Dies at School Dance
Sabrina Keller collapsed suddenly on the dance floor and died at the hospital.
June 12, 2011 -- A California community is mourning the loss of 14-year-old Sabrina Keller, who collapsed at a school dance and died at a hospital.
Keller, of San Marcos, was named San Diego County's top Girl Scout cookie seller after selling 3,463 boxes of cookies, according to the North County Times. San Marcos is a city about 40 miles north of San Diego.
Keller collapsed at about 9 p.m. Thursday night while on the dance floor at a Woodland Park Middle School dance, ABC's San Diego affiliate KGTV reports.
According to the school principal, a parent who is a nurse performed CPR on Keller while others at the dance called 911. A few minutes later, San Marcos firefighters arrived and took over.
"She was dancing and then she sat down and then from a chair just collapsed, just kind of folded over onto the floor," Principal David Cochrane told 10News. He also told them that the school is unaware of any pre-existing medical conditions.
Keller was flown to Rady Children's Hosptial where she was pronounced dead an hour later.
About 250 students were at the dance celebrating the end of their eighth grade year.
10News reports that the last post on Keller's Facebook page read: "Finally the dance is today. So many plans for today and this weekend ... hope to see everyone there."
An autopsy completed Friday was inconclusive and the Medical Examiner's office will be conducting further tests, which could take up to 90 days.
KGTV reported that the medical examiner is looking into the possibility Keller used marijuana before the dance, but school officials and the girl's parents said that doesn't fit with the Sabrina Keller they knew.
Cochrane said he didn't know of her having any history of drug use and said she was a good student who didn't get into any trouble.
"It's really tragic," he said. "She was a good kid."
"I know the media can sometimes jump to conclusions, but let's keep itpositive that she still was a good girl," her father, Brian Keller, said at the vigil, hugging his wife and choking back tears. "If she made a bad choice, let's not take her down for that one bad choice if that's what the true outcome is."
Hundreds of friends, family and community members attended a vigil for Keller on Friday and shared their memories of the vibrant teenager.
"She was happy. She loved life and she always thought of other people before she thought of herself," her mother, Jill Keller, said.
"Just keep her in your thoughts and remember what she did," Brian Keller said. "She was always friendly to people. A smile from you and you will be two smiles to somebody else, and that's how she lived her life."
The Keller family made a Facebook page for a memorial service, which is scheduled for Tuesday, June 14.
The family says there will be an empty photo album at the memorial for people to put photos in that they would like the family to have. They also ask that everyone wear "fun bright colors (no black)."
The eighth grader was anticipating her middle school graduation, which would have been Thursday.