Lethal dose of Benadryl found in 12-year-old’s system after her death, warrants show

ENFIELD, Conn. (WFSB/Gray News) - Newly released search warrants reveal that a 12-year-old Connecticut girl had a lethal level of diphenhydramine, commonly known as Benadryl, in her system when she died in March.

Eve Rogers, 12, was found unresponsive at her Enfield home the morning of March 18. She was pronounced dead shortly afterward.

Enfield Police say Eve was found on her bedroom floor, naked from the waist down, with a blanket covering her lower half. Pills were found next to her body, according to a search warrant.

Eve’s mother told detectives she last saw her daughter around 8 to 8:30 p.m. when the 12-year-old was in her locked bedroom. The following morning, she went to wake Eve and, after receiving no response to knocking, used a butter knife to open the door.

The Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner says the cause and manner of Eve’s death remain pending.

What the new warrants show

On April 8, the chief medical examiner’s office notified police that toxicology testing was complete. The report indicated a diphenhydramine level of 23,000 nanograms per milliliter in Eve’s femoral blood.

A lethal dose for a child is documented at 4,390 ng/ml and 14,720 ng/ml in adults. The medical examiner said it would take approximately 1.8 liters — nearly 60 ounces — of liquid Benadryl to reach a level of 23,000 ng/ml.

“There is a safe window of the medication effect, but if you go beyond a certain limit, even in adults, it could be problematic, let alone for children,” said Dr. Khuram Ghumman of Quinnipiac Frank H. Netter School of Medicine.

Also detected in Eve’s system was fluoxetine, known by the brand name Prozac, which she had not been prescribed. The 12-year-old had been prescribed amphetamine and trazodone, but neither was found in her system, according to the warrants.

A bottle of sleep aid pills — identified as blue gel capsules containing diphenhydramine HCL 50 mg — was found in the basement bedroom of the home during a search on April 7. The bottle was originally filled with 250 capsules and contained only three at the time of the search.

Eve’s mother told detectives she controlled the medication and provided it to her daughter to help her sleep.

Examination of Eve’s gastrointestinal tract found no colored dye consistent with the blue gel capsules or other colored forms of diphenhydramine, according to the search warrants. The chief medical examiner’s office said a dye-free form of diphenhydramine could have caused the overdose without leaving visible staining.

Investigators have not been able to determine the specific type of diphenhydramine ingested, how it got into Eve’s system or how she had access to it.

Ghumman says mixing a drug like Benadryl with other medications can pose an even higher risk of death.

“A lot of the sleep aid medications, over-the-counter, a lot of the allergy medications, a lot of the upper respiratory remedies, over-the-counter medications may have diphenhydramine. It may not be labeled as Benadryl,” he said.

Stepfather facing charges

In April, Eve’s stepfather, 39-year-old Anthony Federline, was charged with sexual assaulting the 12-year-old. Police questioned him after DNA swabs from a sexual assault kit performed on Eve positively matched Federline.

Federline was arrested April 2 and charged with sexual assault in the first-degree and risk of injury to a minor. He has pleaded not guilty and is due back in court at the end of July.

The new search warrants seek records from Federline’s Facebook and Snapchat accounts, as well as CVS Caremark and Amazon purchase histories from January through March 2026 — the period leading up to Eve’s death. Detectives said they were seeking purchase history for products containing diphenhydramine and communications between Federline and Eve, according to the warrants.

Investigators believe the evidence they’re looking for may lead to a murder charge in Eve’s death.

Federline told investigators that he and his stepdaughter would communicate on apps like Facebook and Snapchat but denied the conversations were ever sexual.

Police said they have requested further search warrants be sealed to protect the ongoing investigation.