Overdose: But was it suicide?

An overdose of the prescription drug Xanax caused the death last month of a 21-year-old Glenn County woman, the Coroner's Officer announced Monday.

Kaila Baker was found dead in her in-law's Willows home July 1.

Deputy Coroner Richard Warren said investigators are still trying to determine if the overdose was accidental or a suicide attempt.

He said deputies are still conducting interviews with her friends and family and many questions are still unanswered.

"It's still too early to tell either way," Warren said.

Baker had a history of clinical depression and was prescribed the drug by a doctor, Warren said.

Medical examiners found no evidence of alcohol or other drugs that would have contributed to her death, he said.

Xanax is a prescription drug also known as Alprazolam and is commonly used to treat anxiety and depression disorders, according to the New England Journal of Medicine. It is also commonly abused, and Xanax overdoses have been linked to many deaths including, most recently, actor Heath Ledger last year.

Baker graduated from Elk Creek High School in 2005 and joined the U.S. Army, where she provided medical assistance to elderly and disabled patients for more than three years. She continued her medical career in Glenn County after leaving the Army in 2008.

She was on active duty as an Army reservist at the time of her death.

In April, she married Willows native Bryan Baker after a brief, whirlwind romance that began online earlier this year.

Contact Rob Parsons at 934-6800 or rparsons@tcnpress.com.