The Vermont State Police on Monday received the final autopsy report

The Vermont State Police on Monday received the final autopsy report from the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington regarding the death of 37-year-old Shawn Gardner. Gardner, of Newport, died Wednesday, July 26 at Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans after becoming unresponsive in the shower area at the facility at about 6:35 p.m. Corrections staff provided emergency medical care and called first responders to the prison. Lifesaving efforts were unsuccessful, and the inmate was pronounced dead at Northwest State at 7:22 p.m. Following the recent completion of toxicology testing, the medical examiner determined Gardner’s cause of death was acute mixed drug intoxication involving fentanyl, xylazine and cocaine. The manner of death was “an accident due to the use/ingestion of illicit substances,” the report stated.