Drug addict Rachel Whitear may not have given herself the injection which killed her, an inquest has concluded.
A jury at the Devon hearing decided the 21-year-old died of a heroin overdose, ending seven years of uncertainty surrounding the cause of her death.
But Miss Whitear's mother Pauline Holcroft, from Herefordshire, condemned police who carried out the initial inquiry as "incompetent".
Miss Whitear was found dead in an Exmouth flat in May 2000.
"We are sorry that Rachel's parents have had to suffer the anguish of a protracted investigation"
"We believe this was compounded by the outright negligence of the coroner, his office and the pathologist.
"Devon and Cornwall Police made one massive assumption. They treated Rachel's death very simply as an inconsequential drugs related statistic."
She added: "The jury's findings just confirmed our greatest fear - that we may just never know who else was there when Rachel died."
Miss Whitear, who had dropped out of Bath Spa University, was found dead on the floor of her flat with a capped syringe in her hand.
Police at the time decided she had died of a heroin overdose and photographs of her body were used as part of an anti-drugs campaign.
An inquest in December 2000 had recorded an open verdict after being told tests showed she did not have enough heroin in her blood to kill her.
But questions continued to haunt the case.
A second inquest was opened after Miss Whitear's family challenged the findings of the first hearing at the High Court.
'Attracted attention'
Exeter Coroner Ian Arrow said at the end of the latest inquest: "This death clearly attracted attention because the original medical cause of death was unascertained. We now have a medical cause of death."
He said many organisations had learned from the death of Miss Whitear and had modified procedures, which he hoped would help to promote better practices in future.
Answering 10 questions put to them by the coroner the jury returned a narrative verdict which said Miss Whitear died from heroin intoxication and was in the habit of injecting the drug.
She had the necessary equipment to inject heroin but they did not know whether she was in possession of the drug or whether she injected herself with it.
If she did inject herself it happened at her bedsit in Pound Street in Exmouth on the evening of 10 May, 2000.
If she did inject herself she did not intend to seriously injure herself, and they answered "no" to the question are you sure she intended to kill herself.
Family's 'anguish'
In answer to the final question, was Miss Whitear alone when she died the jury's answer was "we do not know".
Devon and Cornwall Police declined to comment on the criticism of its initial investigation which is being considered by police watchdog the IPCC after Wiltshire Police reinvestigated the case.
The force said in a statement: "We are sorry that Rachel's parents have had to suffer the anguish of a protracted investigation that at times must have been harrowing.
"It is our hope that today's verdict will be the start of the process that finally allows Rachel's family and friends to fully grieve her death."
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