Florida teen dies at home after night at seafood bar, police probe homicide
Florida's Ava Hulett, 19, was found dead in her bedroom hours after returning home from a hospital. Lee County deputies are investigating it as a homicide.
Florida investigators have launched a homicide investigation after two teenagers were rushed to the hospital from a Fort Myers restaurant and one of them died hours after returning home.
Ava Hulett, 19, was out with a group at Pelican Larry's Raw Bar and Grill when she and at least one friend suffered from medical emergencies, according to her family's attorney, Anthony Rickman.
She later returned home, but her family found her unresponsive hours later.
"She went from there to the hospital," Rickman said. "They released her, and then she died a short time thereafter when she was released back home."
Without using the victim's name under Florida privacy laws, the Lee County Sheriff's Office said it responded to a call for assistance at the restaurant and that it followed up at a home in connection with a 19-year-old's death and found a teen dead on her bedroom floor. Ten minutes later, a medic pronounced her dead.
"Investigators learned she was a patron at Pelican’s Larry’s during the previous evening," the sheriff's office said in a statement.
Detectives launched a homicide investigation, but the sheriff's office also said there was no evidence that restaurant staff were to blame.
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"They’re not investigating the restaurant for anything like poisoning," Rickman told Fox News Digital. "If it is a poisoning circumstance, it’s our belief that it was an intentional act by another third party that caused the medical situation for Ava Hulett."
Lab and toxicology results and other forensic testing were still pending Monday.
Rickman has been representing the Huletts since the accidental shooting death of Ava's older brother, who was killed in 2019 by one of his friends, according to FOX 13 Tampa.
In that case, the friend was playing with his father's handgun when it discharged and fatally struck Bradley Hulett.
"The family is mourning and grieving," Rickman said. "No family should have to bury a child, nonetheless two. And no parent should ever have to outlive their children, and these poor parents have to outlive two now."
In a Facebook post, Ava's mother Meagan Hulett wrote that she did not believe her daughter killed herself or ingested any dangerous substance knowingly, Rickman said.
The post was no longer visible Monday, but Rickman said it had been preserved accurately in the Tampa Bay Times.
"She was conscious after the event and even said to me, ‘I don’t want to die,’" the mother wrote. "She was scared."
She added that police were investigating "other overdoses reported at the bar."
"It's traumatic; it's sad; it's horrible," Rickman said. "No family should have to go through this."
