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Missing Teen Found In Marsh After Father Tracks His Phone, Later Dies

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- There's been yet another deadly overdose of a Minnesota teenager from synthetic drugs.

This one happened Sunday in Minnewashta Regional Park in Chanhassen.

Carver County investigators say 17-year-old Alexander Snyder of Victoria died two days after deputies found him with seizure-like symptoms lying in a wetland.

When Snyder's father couldn't locate his son early Sunday evening he tracked his cellphone signal to this picnic area, inside Minnewashta Regional Park. He found only his shoes and the phone.

The first deputy to arrive went down a set of steps toward the lake on a path lined by thick cattails. It was dark, and he found Snyder from the splashing made as he appeared to be having a seizure in the cattails.

Investigators believe Snyder and another 17-year-old went to the park with a synthetic psychedelic drug. The friend told deputies Snyder got it on the internet from China.

Snyder, who was taking college courses as a senior at Chanhassen High School, apparently overdosed on the drug. He was taken to the 212 Medical Center in Chaska and transferred to HCMC, where he died Tuesday.

The other boy survived the drug but told deputies he, too, felt ill. He was also transported to the hospital but was treated and released.

Investigators aren't 100 percent certain what the drug was; that will require toxicology tests.

But they were told by the friend it was DPT, also known as a synthetic salt, a drug that is both illegal and extremely dangerous.

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