Friends say woman used drugs before death

A Montana woman found dead in a Spokane hotel room last weekend may have had a mix of cocaine and alcohol in her system, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

In interviews with police after Priscilla A. Wetzel’s death early Sunday morning, the 22-year-old Kalispell woman’s friends said they had come to Spokane for St. Patrick’s Day and planned a weekend of partying.

According to some companions, Wetzel was seeking to use cocaine when she arrived in town, and some of those friends may have supplied the drug, according to the court documents.

Police questioned Tanner R. Kolodejchuk, 22; Justin L. Longtine, 23; Genaviere L. Bradford, 25; and Michelle A. Pilsch, 23. According to the search warrant, the five drove from Kalispell and arrived in Spokane on Saturday evening.

Based on statements in the documents, the group drank alcohol during the drive to Spokane, and at the Red Lion River Inn, at dinner at Chili’s in the NorthTown Mall and at the downtown bar Talotti’s 211.

Bradford and Pilsch told police that before leaving for the bar, they had used cocaine with Kolodejchuk and Longtine and suspected Wetzel had done so, also.

The group returned to the hotel about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, and Wetzel went to the hotel’s hot tub. One man, Kolodejchuk, said he and Wetzel were in the hot tub together and that Wetzel “seemed fine when all of a sudden she stared blankly and was unresponsive,” according to the document.

Rescue workers attempted to revive Wetzel, who was later pronounced dead at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

After searching the hotel room and the friends’ vehicles, police found a digital scale, a small baggie, and possible traces of cocaine scattered around the room.

Nobody had been charged or arrested in connection with the death.