Opinion ID: 173034
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Verla Hancock's Death

Text: On November 18, 2004, having not heard from her mother for several days, Ms. Hancock went to her mother's house to check on her. She found Verla Hancock's body on the bathroom floor. The body was already in advanced stages of decomposition. According to the police report, [Verla Hancock] was lying on the floor with her head under the toilet. Her pants were pulled down and there was what appeared to be feces on the floor and also on her back, staining her shirt. There was a shower chair in the bathroom that had been knocked over and one leg of it was lying across the right side of her face and there was an open storage container that was lying next to her body with misc items scattered around the floor. There was also a prescription bottle of what was later identified as Oxycontin next to her right hand. It appeared to have fallen out of the storage container. That was the only prescription bottle found in the bathroom. Admin. R. at 226-27. Elsewhere in the house, police found eight other kinds of prescription drugs. Ms. Hancock told police that her mother had suffered from diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, and depression. Ms. Hancock also said that her mother had been addicted to painkillers and had overdosed on Oxycontin and Lortab in August 2003 (though she did not know whether the reason for the overdose was attempted suicide or inadvertence). Additionally, police interviewed three neighbors and Verla Hancock's brother, who said that he had last spoken with his sister five days before she was found. Although the medical examiner thought that Verla Hancock may have overdosed on Oxycontin, there was no evidence of excessive amounts of Oxycontin or other intoxicants in the toxicology results. Id. at 217. Nor did the autopsy find any evidence of natural disease, injury or intoxication sufficient to explain death. Id. The medical examiner's report concluded that the cause of death was undetermined, and Verla Hancock's death certificate so stated.