Overview
- The Los Angeles County medical examiner announced Tuesday that 12-year-old Khimberly Zavaleta died from a spontaneously ruptured cerebellar arteriovenous malformation, and certified the manner of death as natural.
- Khimb erly’s family says she was struck in the back of the head with a metal water bottle on Feb. 17, was hospitalized with a brain hemorrhage days later, underwent surgery and died on Feb. 25.
- The LAPD arrested a juvenile on suspicion of murder on April 2, but the department has not said how the medical examiner's natural-cause finding will affect the criminal investigation and the district attorney is now reviewing the case.
- The family has a pending civil lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District that alleges repeated bullying and staff inaction, and the attorneys say the autopsy does not end their bid for accountability.
- An AVM is a rare congenital tangle of fragile brain vessels that can burst without warning, and forensic pathologists can rule a rupture spontaneous even when a minor head impact is reported, a finding that often influences but does not determine prosecutors’ decisions.