Freight train kills woman

Coroner: No identity yet, but similar to missing person

The Olympian • Published August 23, 2008

• Links
• Comments (0)

A woman died shortly before noon Friday after being struck by a train in the Hawks Prairie area near state Route 510.

Thurston County Chief Criminal Deputy James Chamberlain said Friday that the woman's death might have been a suicide. Law enforcement officers found an identification card at the scene with a name that is very similar to that of a missing person from Olympia who has made threats to commit suicide by train, Chamberlain said.

The woman was struck by a southbound freight train near where state Route 510 crosses the tracks, said Lacey Fire Battalion Chief Tim Hulse.

Thurston County Coroner Gary Warnock confirmed that the woman's death likely was a suicide, based on the train conductor's description of what happened. The conductor told officials that the woman "was walking straight into the train as it was approaching her, and there was no attempt to get out of the way."

Warnock did not have the woman's name Friday night.

Lacey firefighter Ryan Perz discovered the body.

"It's always disturbing to have to see something like that," Perz, 28, said Friday. "A little unsettling."

Other local deaths of people who were struck by trains:

• In June 2007, Matthew Daarud, a 16-year-old Centralia High School student, was struck by an Amtrak passenger train after he climbed onto a trestle in the area of Stan Hedwall Park in Chehalis and was going to jump into a swimming hole on the Newaukum River. His death was ruled accidental.

• In April 2007, a 26-year-old woman was struck and killed by an Amtrak train on a trestle over the Nisqually River. The Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office ruled her manner of death undetermined.

• In May 2006, a man was struck and killed by an Amtrak passenger train in Chehalis. The man was hit by a Seattle-to-Portland train while standing on tracks near Prindle Street.

• Also in May 2006, a Centralia woman, Kristina Sabin, 33, died when she was struck by an Amtrak passenger train near the Thurston-Lewis County line. Initial reports suggested she was wearing headphones.