A 15-year-old girl who had recently been released from a psychiatric facility ran away from her Bay Point home last week. Less than three days later she was found dead in the driveway of a home in SF's Oceanview neighborhood.
Jázmin Pellegrini was found dead Saturday morning, face down in a driveway near the intersection of Lobos Street and Plymouth Avenue, adjacent to Ocean View Park. A cause of death has not yet been determined, but police say they did not see any evidence of foul play.
The girl had last been seen by her family on Wednesday night, April 17, around 11:30 pm, and they had reported her missing that night. As KTVU reports, she disappeared about three hours after being released from mental health treatment, and left the house with no phone and no money, her family says.
"Jázmin had been struggling for years with PTSD, Bipolar Disorder, DID, and anxiety as she tried to process the sexual abuse she endured during her childhood," writes her aunt, Ametiszt Hajdu, on a GoFundMe page. "Her family had been fighting alongside to get her the treatment she needs, however their voice was powerless since the traditional route is medicating a child and not addressing the root problem."
Hajdu adds the tragic detail that, after Jázmin was apparently left in the driveway, possibly after a drug overdose, "People walked past this teenage girls body and ignored it, assuming it is a passed out homeless person."
One man called paramedics, and EMTs were reportedly unable to revive her. It will take up to 90 days before an autopsy can be completed.
Hajdu was out walking in the Ocean View neighborhood this week passing out flyers, seeking out any witness who may have seen something on Saturday. "We're asking people if they've seen anything," she told KTVU. "She went missing from Bay Point. Did somebody take her here? We want to know what happened to her."
She added, "How can we cope? We want answers. We want to know who was with her. How did she get to San Francisco."
The family placed a cross with Jázmin's name on it in Ocean View Park, to mark the area where she was found.
The family believes she may have been lured into the city by someone, and that she may have been given drugs. It remains unclear what she was doing between Wednesday night and Saturday morning.
The teenager and her family immigrated from Hungary five years ago, when she was 10 years old.
The GoFundMe has been set up to help cover funeral expenses. Anyone with information can contact the family through that page, or contact the SFPD at 415-575-4444, or send a tip by text message to TIP411 with "SFPD" at the start of the message.