Alcohol overdose kills ASU student
By Melanie Marshall

A 19-year-old Appalachian State University freshman died in the early morning hours of Saturday due to an alcohol overdose, police say.

Officers of the Boone Police Department and Watauga Medics were called at 4:30 a.m. to an apartment at 103 Oak Grove Road in Boone to a report of an unresponsive female who had consumed a large quantity of alcohol. Medics transported Raisa Sheikh of Charlotte to Watauga Medical Center for emergency care. She was later pronounced dead.

Detective David Osborne of the BPD said Sheikh had been at a party and returned to the apartment with friends. He also said alcohol is believed to be the only substance involved.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Danny Sheikh said in a published report from WCNC television. “This is not Raisa.”
According to friends of Sheikh, the student had earlier graduated from International School in Bangkok during her father’s work tenure there.

According to Danny Sheikh, police said Raisa had a blood alcohol content of up to four to five time above the legal limit.

Funeral services were held Monday at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Weddington.

A memorial book and information was scheduled to be placed in the Plemmons Student Union in remembrance of Raisa on Tuesday through Wednesday. The memorial book will be available for signing and will be sent to Raisa’s family.