Regret consumes father after daughter, roommate overdose in car in Minneapolis

Bob Bloomberg believed he was finally getting through to his adult daughter. Their relationship was on the mend, and she was seeing a counselor about her addictions.

But when Bloomberg confronted her about her boyfriend's drug arrest, he lost whatever headway he had been making with her.

Now 26-year-old Jessica Bloomberg is dead, as is her Blaine roommate, both apparent victims of a drug overdose Friday while they sat in a parked car along a north Minneapolis street.

"Jessica was very troubled by drugs and alcohol for the last 10 years," Bob Bloomberg said Tuesday, pointing to repeated drunken-driving arrests and a stint in detox. "She was no angel."

He said he pleaded with Jessica and his ex-wife to get their daughter into a rehab program, "and now I wish I would've pushed even harder on that."

Bob Bloomberg felt his tough times with Jessica were diminishing in the summer of 2015. They were on good terms again, and she was in counseling.

"I was so hopeful that we were turning a corner," he said. Just to make sure she didn't stray, Bob Bloomberg would check court records to see whether Jessica was hiding any further run-ins with the law, and he found nothing.

But what he did find in one search was a methamphetamine allegation against her live-in boyfriend. When he revealed this discovery to his daughter, Bob Bloomberg immediately met her wrath.

Their relationship "crashed and burned right there," he said. Bloomberg wouldn't see her again until his father's funeral in November 2016, and it would be the last time.

On Friday night, police notified Bob Bloomberg that they had found Jessica and roommate Blake Thompson, 32, in a car with the engine on in the 2900 block of 3rd Street N.

Officers first drove past their car while on the way to a burglary call, said Bloomberg.

They returned that evening and knocked on the window, he said. "Nobody was coming to, so they broke the windows out of the car and pulled them out of the car."

As for any curbside lifesaving efforts, Bloomberg said, choking back tears, "They were down so long, it was past that point."

Now Bloomberg and the rest of the family must wait. He said toxicology test results from the medical examiner's office are four to six weeks away.

"They found drug paraphernalia, a straw and a grinder, and a prescription of somebody else's on her person," Bloomberg said. "She was probably grinding oxycodone [or some other drug]."

Along with her father, Jessica Bloomberg is survived by her mother, Colleen Bloomberg; sister, Danielle; stepsister, Lauren; and brothers Matt and Hunter. Visitation is scheduled for 4-7 p.m. Wednesday at Miller Funeral Home, 6210 Hwy. 65 NE. Fridley. Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday at Messiah Lutheran Church, 2848 County Road H2, Mounds View, with visitation one hour prior. In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to Minnesota Teen Challenge.

Thompson is survived by his parents, Mark and Marisa; and siblings Travis, Brittany and Shane. Services are scheduled for noon Saturday at Wooddale Lutheran Church, 4003 Wooddale Av., St. Louis Park.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482