|
#1
●
09-25-2009, 11:10 AM
|
|
Coeur D'Alene Balcony Death Ruled Accidental
Coeur d'Alene police ruled the death of Lynea M. Sprung Hambrice, 36, of Baton Rouge, an accident after she fell from a 12th-floor resort hotel balcony early on July 30, closing a nearly two-month investigation. Hambrice fell from a balcony at the Coeur d'Alene Resort and landed on a deck on the hotel's main floor, according to police. She and her boyfriend, Ian James, 38, also of Baton Rouge, had checked into the resort the day before for a planned four-night stay tied to his 20th high school reunion in nearby Kellogg. James called police around 12:30 a.m. and told a dispatcher that Hambrice had been yelling that she wanted to kill herself before going over the railing, according to a recording of the call. Investigators said Hambrice had a blood alcohol content of 0.23 at the time of her death. Kootenai County Coroner Jodi DeLuca said the angle at which Hambrice struck the ground was inconsistent with a deliberate jump or a push, pointing instead toward an accidental fall, investigators said. Coeur d'Alene police Sgt. Christie Wood said James cooperated throughout the investigation, including submitting to a voluntary polygraph test that he passed, and was never considered a person of interest in Hambrice's death. No charges were filed over the fall. James had faced a domestic violence charge in Louisiana less than a year earlier. He was booked in November 2008 on a count of aggravated second-degree battery after Hambrice told deputies he had struck her with a liquor bottle, according to East Baton Rouge Parish court records. The charge was dismissed the following month at Hambrice's request. Hambrice worked as coordinator of graduate student services at LSU's School of Music. The university has since established a scholarship in her name through the LSU Foundation.
__________________ Support the site and our continued existance by upgrading to a Green Name |