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Still no ID on woman found in car

Staff, wire reports
Friday July 27, 2001

 

 

The Alameda County Coroner’s Office reported Thursday that the identification of a woman found dead in a burning car near the Berkeley Marina early Wednesday has been deferred pending the results of toxicology tests. 

Despite a report Wednesday from the East Bay Regional Park Police that said the woman’s body was found in a severe state of decomposition, it actually had been burned beyond recognition.  

Spokesman Mike Yost said the woman’s body was found at about midnight Wednesday near University Avenue and West Frontage Road in a car that was engulfed in flames.  

Yost said that the corpse had been so severely burned that identifying the woman based on her fingerprints is impossible. 

Yost said the woman’s car apparently left the freeway, struck some rocks and ignited. He said that toxicology tests will now be performed to determine whether drugs or alcohol were a factor in the woman’s death.