(L.A.) Narela Marquez Barreto, 27, Died in a Hospital

Case Number: 2026-01441

Los Angeles County is reporting the death of a 27-year-old Hispanic female that occurred in a hospital on January 23.

The coroner’s office publicly identified the woman as Narela Marquez Barreto on January 30.

Manner of Death: Accident

Cause of Death: Effects of Ketamine and Methamphetamine

RIP NARELA MICAELA MÁRQUEZ BARRETO ( January 23, 2026)

Formal pronouncement of death was made on Friday night.

Ruling by the deputy medical examiner was published on April 2, presumably after the results of tox screening had come back from the lab. This is considered an accidental, i.e., unintentional, drug overdose.

The decedent was an Argentine who moved to the United States in June 2024. She told her family and friends that she was working as a waitress. Her supposed “disappearance” sparked a tremendous amount of media coverage in her home country in late January. Notably though, local police authorities, which usually put out bulletins for actual missing persons, did not put a spotlight on this case. As it turns out, there was no foul play. She plainly used illicit recreational drugs of her own volition and collapsed a few blocks from her residence. That it was an OD would’ve been immediately obvious to medical personnel and the coroner-investigator. The drawn-out speculation that it was a murder was completely unwarranted.