More chilling details have been revealed about a horror sleepover where a dad allegedly drugged a group of 12-year-old girls by spiking their smoothies.
As previously reported, Michael Meyden, 57, from Oregon allegedly gave three of his daughter's friends mango smoothies laced with benzodiazepine while they slept over on the night of August 25, 2023, according to court documents obtained by Oregon Live.
All of the girls were hospitalized and tested positive for the drug, which is a depressant that slows the nervous system and is usually prescribed for anxiety, with common prescriptions under the names Valium, Xanax, and Klonopin.
Now, new details have been revealed, including the desperate text messages one of the girls sent as she tried to escape the home after Meyden made her feel unsafe.
One of the unnamed girls had sent messages to a family friend begging the to pick her up from the Lake Owego home, and chillingly revealed that Meyden had been "doing tests" to see if the girls were conscious as the group pretended to sleep.
In the messages, shared by the New York Post, the 12-year-old girl wrote: "So I’m 'sleeping,' and her dad comes down and [I’m] hugging [one of the other girls] because she was scared, and he kept moving us away from each other but kept doing tests to make sure we weren’t awake.
"Also, [the other girl] won’t wake up and she did for like 2 seconds, but she kept her eyes closed and didn’t talk."
The family friend agreed to go and pick the girl up, and when they arrived, the unnamed child stood up to get her things and was met by Meyden, who she said "seemed drunk" and was slurring his speech, but did not try to stop her from leaving.
The girl added that she had got her shoes from a garage with a "very loud door" as she was leaving, and was "concerned" that the noise didn't wake up one of the other girls when she slammed the door.
After she was dropped off at home by the family friend, the girl woke up her parents who drove to Meyden's house at 3AM to collect the other two girls, according to court documents.
The three girls were allegedly given mango smoothies laced with benzodiazepines. Credit: fotostorm/Getty Images
The girls were all taken to the hospital, where one of them told Lake Oswego Police Detective Nicole Palmeri the following day that she still felt hot, woozy, and clumsy, while another of the girls couldn't remember anything except "blacking out".
The mother of one of the girls described her daughter as having fallen into a "thick, deep sleep" despite typically being a light sleeper otherwise, and was not able to walk when she was dropped off home and needed to be carried into the house. Her parents took her to the hospital after she repeatedly asked "what happened?" and was acting out of character.
Police also observed that one of the girls "walked slowly and used the assistance of her mother for balance, her eyelids were heavy, and she spoke slowly."
None of the girls or their families had been close with the Meydens before the sleepover, which is the first time they had been at the family's home.
The drugs were found in all three of the girls' systems. Credit: Cappi Thompson/Getty Images
The sleepover had been arranged by Meyen as his then-wife primarily spoke Japanese, according to the affidavit, and the pair have since divorced late last year.
Meyden turned himself in at the Clackamas County Jail on Wednesday after being indicted by a grand jury accusing him of multiple felonies and misdemeanors stemming from the sleepover.
He faces charges including causing another person to ingest a controlled substance and application of a controlled substance to the body of another person.
During his arraignment on Wednesday in Clackamas County Circuit Court he pleaded not guilty, and his bail was set at $50,000. Police have not speculated on a motive.
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