Bemidji woman pleads guilty to manslaughter

Lillie Rae Kise, 29, of Bemidji, pleaded guilty Monday to an amended charge of serious felony second degree manslaughter - culpable negligence creating unreasonable risk. Her next court date will be June 8.

Meanwhile, she remains in the Beltrami County Jail.

She had originally pleaded innocent April 6 to serious felony third-degree murder by selling, giving or distributing controlled substances.

At 8 a.m. April 26, a call was received at the Beltrami County Dispatch Center from Kise, who stated that an individual at her residence was not breathing and unresponsive. Several officers from the Beltrami County Sheriff's Office responded to the call at a motel on Bemidji Avenue. The deputies found a man administering CPR to an individual lying on the floor, according to the complaint. The deputy and investigator took over administering first aid to the individual, who was later identified as Christopher Anderson. They observed that Anderson was cold to the touch and that there was blood pooling on his back side as he lay on the floor. They also noticed that full rigor mortis had set in. Anderson was pronounced dead at the scene.

An autopsy and subsequent toxicology report from the Hennepin County Medical Center showed that Anderson's blood and urine contained methadone and methadone metabolite. The final autopsy report determined that Anderson had died from an overdose of methadone.

The complaint states that in the apartment where Anderson was found, the deputies found two dosage bottles of methadone. One was in the name of Kise, with a label indicated that it was dispensed on April 25, 2008, and was to be taken on April 27, 2008. The other dosage bottle was in the name of another individual, dispensed on April 25, to be taken on April 27.

Kise and the recipient of the other methadone dose were patients at a Bemidji clinic, according to the complaint.