Woman dies in 'U' parking structure

A 47-year-old woman whose identity has not been released by Department of Public Safety officials was found dead yesterday afternoon on the fourth floor of a parking structure adjacent to the Taubman Health Care Center.

DPS officials are not ruling out any possible causes of the woman's death, although University spokesperson Julie Peterson said officials consider suicide a "distinct possibility.

"There isn't any evidence of foul play at this time," Peterson said, but she reiterated that "the police are investigating a number of possibilities. Among them is the possibility that this is a suicide, but they have not ruled out anything."

Peterson said the woman was already dead when DPS officers arrived at the scene after receiving a phone call around 3 p.m. yesterday.

She also could not confirm whether the woman was affiliated with the University in any way and whether the woman was involved in a client-patient relationship with University Hospitals.

"I couldn't confirm it one way or another," she said.

Peterson said she could not confirm if there are any witnesses to the woman's death, but said she does not believe there are any.

Local TV media reported yesterday that the woman's death was a murder, saying she had been shot.

Peterson described the reports as rumors and said none of the reports had been confirmed by official University sources.

She added that DPS investigators definitely are not in the mindset to be looking for a suspect or collecting information about a potential suspect in the women's death at this point in time.

"Evidence does not lead us to believe that anyone using the parking structure is in danger," Peterson said.

The Washtenaw County Medical Examiner is expected to add crucial information from the autopsy to the DPS investigation within the next few days, Peterson said.

Peterson said the parking center will not be closed, although the fourth floor was partitioned off following the discovery of the woman's body yesterday while DPS officials investigated the crime scene.

09-10-99