Palouse woman denies allegations in youth’s death

Alexandra Neiman, the 21-year-old friend of Dylan Mayhan-Treese, the 16-year-old Palouse boy who committed suicide last month, says her only crime was befriending the troubled teen.

“I wanted to save him. He was my best friend,” said Neiman in a sit-down interview with the Gazette Nov. 16.

Mayhan-Treese was found beneath a railroad bridge on West Church Street Oct. 23 after committing suicide two weeks earlier from a lethal combination of prescription morphine and anti-depressants.

The parents of Mayhan-Treese have cast blame on Neiman for their son’s suicide. They said he was infatuated with her, and she worsened that by continually showing up at their house and supplying him with alcohol.

“Please get the facts straight because what is the truth is that Alexandra brainwashed my 16-year-old straight up,” wrote Dylan’s mother, Cindi Mahan in a Friday e-mail to the Gazette.

Neiman said Mayhan-Treese had a troubled home life and found relief in her friendship.

“He didn’t want to go home. He wouldn’t go home in the day,” she said. “He would just hide out in places around town and go home at night to get some food and change his clothes.”

The two met earlier this year, shortly after Neiman moved to Palouse to live with her father.

“I was sitting on a bench down by the store,” she said. “And Dylan came down and sat beside me and started talking. And we were friends from that point on.”

In September, the Mayhans obtained a temporary restraining order against Neiman because Mayhan-Treese would soon be returning from an alcohol and drug treatment center, where he stayed for treatment from Aug. 17 to Oct. 7.

Judge David Frazier Oct. 8 extended the restraining order until Dylan’s 18th birthday, three days before Oct. 11, when Coroner Pete Martin determined he died.

It was the restraining order, said Neiman, that finally pushed Mayhan-Treese to take his own life.

Neiman said she and Mayhan-Treese were just friends, though he told her again and again he was in love with her.

Neiman shared with the Gazette a note he wrote in her journal shortly before he committed suicide. In it, Mayhan-Treese said he had nothing left to live for because his parents had obtained a restraining order against Neiman.

Mayhan-Treese had attempted suicide in May and June when his parents forbid him from seeing her.

Neiman was found intoxicated and passed out behind the Mayhan house on the night of Dylan’s death.

In the police report of his death, Neiman told officers she had seen him beneath the bridge on Oct. 11 in obvious medical distress. She said his lips were blue and pupils were fixated. She tried to shake him awake, but could not.

Prosecutor Denis Tracy said in a press release Tuesday Neiman’s failure to call for help does not constitute a criminal act.

Neiman said Tuesday she did not know Mayhan-Treese was under the bridge. She said she was ordered to look for him by Mayor Michael Echanove Oct. 23. That, she said, was the first time she had seen him since the court restraining order was finalized.

Dylan’s father Dave Mayhan told the Gazette last week she had been seen in the area of the bridge several times during the two weeks he was believed missing. Mayhan alleged she was visiting his body.

Neiman disputed that Tuesday.

“I don’t want people to think I’m some sick person that goes and visits dead bodies,” she said. “People really think I’m that twisted? They don’t even know me.”

Tracy has charged Neiman with violating the no contact order and trespassing on the Mayhan property.

She was released on her own recognizance in her first appearance on the charges in Whitman County District Court last week. Her next court appearance will be at a Dec. 3 readiness hearing.