Pair found dead in Napa apartment identified

Napa police on Tuesday identified the man and woman found dead in an apartment Monday and said that the woman had died a week or more before the man.

Sandra Peterson, 55, was seated in a chair in the living room, fully clothed, and appeared to have been dead for several weeks. Gene Meixel, 66, was found lying on the floor unclothed and appeared to have been dead for about a week, police said.

Investigators were unable to determine the causes of death for the pair and are awaiting the results of autopsies to be performed later this week, Lt. Debbie Peecook said.

No weapons or suicide notes were found, police said in a press release.

The deaths were discovered by officers responding to a call at about 2:35 p.m. Monday from a resident of the apartments in the 600 block of Riverglen Drive. The resident had not seen the man and woman for at least a week and got no response after knocking on their door, police said.

Officers got no response on the telephone or from knocking on the apartment door. They could see flies clustered on the front window but couldn’t see inside because of the window coverings.

The man and woman were seen regularly by other neighbors but were “known as recluses” to most residents, police said.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter ?@guykovner.