Family and friends want answers from police after the tragic death of 15-year-old Jázmin Pellegrini, who was found dead on a driveway in San Francisco after her release from a hospital last Wednesday.
Her body was discovered Saturday in a driveway near Lobos Street and Plymouth Avenue in Ingleside, according to a GoFundMe page set up Monday to cover funeral and reception costs and supportive services for the grieving family.
Pedestrians walked past her body until a man stopped to call paramedics, who briefly revived her before she was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the fundraising page.
Pellegrini ran away from her Bay Point home after she was released from a Martinez hospital on April 17, her family said.
"I'm really upset," Pellegrini's aunt Ametiszt Hajdu told The Standard on Wednesday. "She was in and out of the hospital."
In a statement shared with The Standard, family members said Pellegrini was born July 21, 2008, in Hungary as the third oldest of six children in her family.
Pellegrini was described as a sweet child who enjoyed baking and cooking with her mother, a master baker. Her family said she took pride in caring for her younger siblings and the family's dogs.
She joined family members who sought asylum in the United States after authorities failed to protect her and her sister from sexual abuse at her grandfather's hands for several years, family members said.
After arriving in the U.S., Pellegrini quickly learned English and briefly attended Concord's Mount Diablo High School in 2022 before going in and out of psychiatric institutions over the next year.
Although she was hospitalized repeatedly and treated with various medications at five different facilities, family members said her immigration status made her ineligible for most long-term care programs.
'The police have done nothing'
The family now demands answers from police in San Francisco and the East Bay.
"The police have done nothing to further investigate this tragedy," the fundraising page states. "Her family does not know who she was with, how she got there, what she was doing, nor why her body was left alone to decompose in the street."
Hajdu said she went to SFPD's Taraval Police Station, as well as the Office of the Medical Examiner, to seek answers Tuesday. Police have yet to respond to questions on what is being done to investigate her death.
Pellegrini's loved ones conducted their own neighborhood inquiry over the weekend, knocking on Ingleside doors seeking video footage, witnesses and information.
Hajdu also said Contra Costa County sheriff's deputies also made light of the situation when they visited the family at home.
"When the police officers came, they were making jokes with each other, laughing about how cute the Hungarian language sounds," she said. The Standard has contacted the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office for comment.
In a statement Wednesday, San Francisco police confirmed officers responded to a report of a body at 11:55 a.m. Saturday. When officers arrived, paramedics declared one person dead at the scene. Police said there was no evidence of foul play.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner identified the victim as Pellegrini and said a cause of death has not been established as forensic investigations are ongoing.
"Typically, the pathologist will assign the cause and manner of death when all the forensic studies are complete, including the Post-Mortem Toxicology report, and any other studies requested by the pathologist to inform their decision," a spokesperson said in a statement. "Given our high case volume, those toxicology reports are complete within 21-60 days."