Autopsy Finds Ketamine in Victoria Zardoya’s System After Fatal Fall

A medical examiner’s findings show that Victoria Zardoya’s blood contained ketamine and norketamine, a substance formed as the body processes ketamine. Her toxicology results also detected alcohol and etomidate, a medication used for anesthesia and sedation. The results do not specify when she took the substances or whether they played a role in the fall.

Zardoya, a University of Tampa student and childhood friend of Milania Giudice, was touring the remnants of Fort Dade on Egmont Key on July 24 when she fell down multiple levels of stairs. She sustained skull fractures and bleeding near the brain, along with minor injuries to her arms and legs. Her death on July 26 was attributed to craniocerebral trauma and classified as accidental.

Friends at the site tried to reach her and contacted emergency services. Responders arrived by boat, and a medical helicopter took Zardoya to a hospital. Her friend Victoria Silberbusch said the group stayed with Zardoya while waiting for help. Organs including her heart, lungs, kidneys and pancreas were donated after her death.

Giudice later held a celebration of life for Zardoya, describing her as someone who brought energy to a room and cherished time with friends. The two had grown up together.