Gwen Casten tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 roughly a month after infection
I obtained the autopsy reports1 for Gwen Casten, the 17-year-old daughter of U.S. Congressman Sean Casten (IL-6) who died unexpectedly in June.
After a months-long investigation, chief pathologist Dr. Hilary Strawn McElligott said Ms. Casten’s death was caused by a “sudden arrhythmogenic cardiac event of a natural but unspecified etiology,” which matches the Casten family’s announcement last week.
My interest in the findings comes from a desire to provide factual information to people who still have questions about Ms. Casten’s tragic death.
I lack the medical background to speak knowledgeably about every aspect of the autopsy; readers with relevant expertise, in particular, can review the report and comment.
Some things I notice speak directly to rumors & conjecture I’ve heard over the past few months.
- Ms. Casten was fully vaccinated (Pfizer) and had received a booster in December 2021.
- Ms. Casten visited a doctor in March 2022 for “chronic right-sided thoracic back pain”.
- Ms. Casten is reported to have had covid-19 with “minor” symptoms in mid-May 2022.
- Ms. Casten is reported to have consumed two Truly hard seltzers at a gathering with friends. As far as I can tell, toxicology did not detect significant levels of alcohol or illicit substances.
- A postmortem nasal swab was positive for SARS-CoV-2. Pathologist Dr. McElligott commented,“Only minor changes consistent with virus respiratory infection were seen at autopsy, as the majority [of] examined lung tissue appeared both grossly and microscopically unremarkable.”1
- Postmortem blood cultures were positive for “Clostridium species sordellii and septicum without antemortem or postmortem evidence of sepsis.” Dr. McElligott commented, “While the presence of these bacterial organisms is highly unusual in postmortem blood cultures, there is no evidence to support sepsis or widespread bacterial infection in the antemortem period or at autopsy.
- Regarding the death scene, Deputy Coroner Keri Mederich observed, “Ms. Casten’s bedroom appeared to be very clean and orderly as if she had been living this way. Nothing appeared to be disturbed in the bedroom. A damp washcloth was observed on the back of a pillow that Ms. Casten’s head was resting on. There was a plastic trash bag hanging off of a desk, near the head of the bed. The bag was free of debris or fluids. The washcloth and trash bag were reported to be unusual. Additionally, the bathroom next to Ms. Casten’s bedroom light was on and the toilet seat was up (appeared unused) which appeared to be unusual, per family.”
- The August 13, 2022 death of another Downers Grove teen appears on page 6 of the investigative report, though it’s not clear why.
I’m also intrigued by the “COVID-19 QUESTIONNAIRE” at the end of the case narrative, because it appears to be a set of standard inquiries for death investigations in DuPage County.2 If these questions have been asked of every inquiry in the coroner’s jurisdiction, I would like to see the aggregated data. (Indeed, I’d like to see data for question 4 for all Illinois deaths, regardless of cause.)
Sadly, Ms. Casten is the second pediatric cardiac arrhythmia death in DuPage County in 2022. The first occurred in January.
This weekend, another Chicago-area teen collapsed suddenly and died at a show choir event being held at Naperville North High School. Cause of death has not yet been determined. Update (4/21/23): Per the Naperville Police Report on this incident, the teen was vaccinated & boosted for covid-19 and had a recent SARS-CoV-2 infection. Like Ms. Casten, cause of death was ruled as cardiac arrhythmia.
Updates (10/19/22):
- A reader in the comments directed me to this report of a Geneva High School student collapsing at a homecoming dance earlier this month. GHS is in Kane County (Ill.), next to DuPage.
- Another reader reached out via email about the sudden death of a 17-year-old Bremen High School athlete during a basketball game in February. The Cook County Medical Examiner lists cause of death as “congenital coronary artery anomalies.”
UPDATES (3/2/3026):
- As of late 2025, these “COVID-19 Questionnaire” were still being used for every death processed by the ME in DuPage Co. I attempted to obtain the data via FOIL and was told that it isn’t kept in any kind of form that can be released, and that aggregating the data would constitute creating a new record.
- Igor Chudov and Steve Kirsch both commented on the autopsy reports. I have no opinion on whether their assessments are correct. It’s fair to wonder whether Ms. Casten’s post-mortem SARS-CoV-2 test would have resulted in COVID-19 being listed as a contributing cause of death, had Ms. Casten had not received the COVID shot.
- To date, DuPage County has had no deaths under age 20 attributed to covid-19. ↩︎
- This may relate to the governor’s April 17, 2020 executive order related to testing and holding cadavers. ↩︎
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