Crowd ‘makes noise’ for woman who died after being found unconscious on Olympia street

About 200 people gathered Thursday afternoon at Percival Landing to march to Olympia City Hall to “make noise” in support of Yvonne McDonald, an African-American woman who was found unconscious last month on the city’s west side and later died.

The gathering was spurred by concerns that Olympia police have not done enough to investigate her death, and some say that’s because McDonald was a black woman.

“I want there to be justice for her,” said Ami Aika of Olympia about her reason for attending the march. “I want to make sure that her case is getting the attention and awareness it deserves.”

Thursday’s march was only the latest act to call attention to McDonald’s death. About 100 people turned out for a recent vigil.

Olympia Police Chief Ronnie Roberts has asked for the community’s patience during the investigation. Some have called on Thurston County Coroner Gary Warnock to investigate further, or even hold an inquest, in which a jury hears evidence to determine the cause of death at the coroner’s request.

Warnock has termed McDonald’s death “suspicious,” but that doesn’t mean a crime has been committed, he has said.

McDonald, 56, was found the morning of Aug. 7 lying in the yard of a home on the 900 block of Division Street Northwest, a few blocks from her apartment. Police said she was unconscious and partially clothed. She died that evening at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia. Her cause and manner of death are still pending, including toxicology results, which can take months.

Warnock said his office reviewed medical records and X-rays. An autopsy revealed no signs of a sexual assault, strangulation, stab wounds or gunshot wounds.

Several who gathered Thursday spoke to The Olympian before the march made its way down Fourth Avenue to City Hall.

Mike Pelly of Olympia called her death “real suspicious” and doesn’t understand why it’s been more than a month without any new information, he said.

“We don’t want it to get brushed under the carpet,” he said.

Longtime friend Olivia Hart said McDonald’s death was extremely shocking. She said McDonald weighed all of 90 pounds, but she was sassy, had a great personality and always had a positive attitude.

Hart has heard that her friend had wanted to go to the bathroom outside the night before she was found, but Hart didn’t believe it.

“She was too ladylike,” she said.

Hart thinks her friend’s death was the result of a race-motivated crime.

Relic Proffitt-Craft was distributing fliers at the march, wanting to call attention to the amount of media coverage recent cat deaths have generated compared to McDonald’s death.

“Cats are important, but why is the cat killer getting so much more attention than this black woman who died under suspicious circumstances?” she asked.

Danita Johnson, who attended the rally, said McDonald was her niece. She simply called for justice.

“We’re trying to find her justice and find out what really happened to her,” she said.

This story was originally published September 6, 2018 at 5:27 PM.