Las Vegas Sun

April 19, 2024

Dad: Daughter had taken drugs prior to electric daisy carnival death

More 2016 EDC Night 3

Steve Marcus

People filter out of Kinetic Field as the third night of the Electric Daisy Carnival comes to a close at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway early Monday morning, June 20, 2016.

2016 EDC: Night 3

Christopher Ysais of Houston, Texas, dances by the entrance to Kinetic Field during the third night of the Electric Daisy Carnival on Sunday, June 19, 2016, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Launch slideshow »

The father of a 20-year-old California woman who died this week after collapsing in a parking lot at the Electric Daisy Carnival acknowledged his daughter took drugs during the dusk-to-dawn music and entertainment festival in Las Vegas.

But Dane Kaimuloa of Temecula, California, said he believes heat stroke and dehydration also contributed to the electric daisy carnival death of his daughter, Kenani Kaimuloa.

"Yes there (were) drugs in her system and they also contributed to her death," the grieving father said in an email to The Associated Press. "But it was not just the drugs that killed her. She was at the EDC Las Vegas for the whole 3 days in the record breaking hot weather. That alone could kill anyone."

Kenani Kaimuloa was pronounced dead late Wednesday at University Medical Center in Las Vegas. An aide to Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg said it could take several weeks to complete blood tests and rule on a cause of death.

The festival producer, Insomniac, offered condolences Friday to Kaimuloa's friends and family and called her death a tragedy. A statement from the Los Angeles-based company also noted that the cause of her death hadn't been determined.

It took a month last year for medical examiners to receive blood toxicology test results that showed that a 24-year-old festival-goer from San Francisco died of an accidental overdose of the club drug ecstasy.

High temperatures are normal at the festival and warnings to drink lots of water are a constant part of the experience, which draws about 135,000 ticket-holders per night for a carnival rides, light shows, pyrotechnics and nonstop dancing to pulsing electronic music on several stages.

Daytime temperatures typically top 100 degrees, with overnight temperatures usually in the 80s.

Las Vegas police reported that 617 people were treated this year for mostly minor heat-related ailments during the three-day event, and 17 people were hospitalized. Las Vegas police said 101 felony drug arrests were made.

That compared with more than 1,400 medical calls in 2015, temperatures were higher and 27 people were hospitalized. Nearly 800 sought medical aid in 2014, when no fatalities were reported at the event, but three people who were in Las Vegas for the festival died.

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