Amanda Rabb’s death – What does her autopsy report say?

When Amanda Rabb’s story was featured on Mark Laita’s Soft White Underbelly YouTube series in 2019, little did she know that she would become one of the most talked about interviewees on the show. In the many videos chronicling her journey, Amanda went from a drug-addicted sex worker living in the street of Los Angeles’ Skid Row to a sober person in rehab.

Her final appearance was in a follow-up video posted on April 2021. At the time, Amanda had been sober for nearly a year and was looking forward to the next step of her life. She aspired to be a certified nursing assistant and help children with autism. Unfortunately, just as she began turning her life around, she passed away a month after the update.

Amanda Rabb’s death was caused by a seizure disorder, believed to be post-traumatic epilepsy

Amanda Rabb was only 25 years old when she died in her sleep at a treatment facility on May 9, 2021. She was found unresponsive in her bed by a staff who initially thought her to be soundly asleep. No foul play or self-harm was suspected as Amanda had been under 24-hour supervision.

Her death was announced by her father Larry Rabb and Lima Jevremovic – CEO of digital health platform AURA and supporter of Amanda’s recovery efforts – on the YouTube channel on May 15, 2021. Lima had organized a GoFundMe for Amanda’s treatment and helped her in getting into the facility.

Since the toxicology report found no trace of drugs in Amanda’s body except for Tylenol, her death was linked to natural causes.

However, it was thought that the physical damage resulting from Amanda’s long-term cocaine abuse and the many assaults she was subjected to over the years ultimately had a hand in her untimely death.

“She passed away from the traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) she sustained as a result of multiple violent rapes and beatings she endured as a young homeless woman living on the streets of Los Angeles,” wrote Lima in an update posted on the GoFundMe page.

Amanda’s autopsy results arrived in December 2021, eight months after her death. The results, which were delayed by her lack of medical records, marked the primary cause of death as a seizure disorder, with the possibility of it being post-traumatic epilepsy.

Lima read out the details of the report on the channel and explained why Amanda’s death was officially linked to a seizure disorder and not post-traumatic epilepsy, saying:

“Amanda never had seizures prior to being homeless. [The medical examiners] believed that it was post-traumatic epilepsy but they could not mark it as that because of a lack of evidence. They could not tell if the seizures are from past drug use or traumatic brain injury from the assaults since the assaults were not well documented. So, they just marked it as a seizure disorder.”