Deputies Were Called to Home of Dead Guerneville Woman

By Bay City News Service

The Guerneville home of a woman found dead Sunday afternoon had been visited by sheriff's deputies two days prior for a medical call who broke the trailer's window but did not enter assuming no one was home, the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office said.

Deputies were called to the home on Drake Road last Friday at 4:55 a.m. along with the fire department after receiving reports of a person who was having difficulty breathing, the sheriff's office said.

The deputies knocked on the door at 5:09 a.m. and checked the outside of the trailer. When they didn't receive a response, they broke a window and noticed the television was on and there was a phone on a bed.

However, when no one responded, they assumed no one was home so they left a note saying they had broken the window and to contact the sheriff's office about the damage and left, the sheriff's office said.

Sunday at about 1 p.m. the sheriff's office received a call that there was a dead woman at the same address. They spoke to the victim's daughter and neighbors who were upset that the deputies had left a note on the broken window but not gone inside to check on the woman, the sheriff's office said.

The Sonoma County coroner's office is investigating the death. The sheriff's office is conducting an internal affairs investigation to determine if proper procedures were followed when the deputies checked on the woman.

Copyright © 2013 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

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