Woman found on Napa highway likely hit by car

Further details emerged Tuesday in the death of a 57-year-old Bay Area woman who was found before dawn Sunday, lying on a Napa County highway, dying from major head trauma.

An autopsy Monday afternoon showed evidence her injuries were caused by multiple blunt force trauma, most likely from being hit by a vehicle, Napa County sheriff’s Capt. Doug Pike said Tuesday.

“At this point, based on information from the autopsy, it appears we’re looking for the driver of a vehicle who at some point came in contact with her,” Pike said.

He said there still were several areas under investigation, including how she got to rural Highway 29 and why she was there. And had she been with someone she knew, or a stranger or for some reason had been walking the dark, steep highway that ties the Napa Valley to Lake County in her leopard-print heels and reportedly only wearing underwear and a jacket.

No car was found nearby indicating she’d been driving, broken down and begun walking.

Detectives from three Napa law enforcement agencies working the case fanned out into the Bay Area on Tuesday looking for answers. The CHP’s accident analysis team also had gathered evidence on the highway and was participating in the investigation.

“We’re reconstructing the last 24 hours of her life, where she went, who she was with, where she intended to go, to give us more direction,” Pike said. “We’re still tracing down friends and acquaintances.”

Detectives Tuesday continued to withhold the woman’s name, still trying to find her next of kin. But Pike did release that she lived and worked in the Bay Area and was single, following a divorce.

She also apparently had no local family. “We still haven’t been able to locate any family members,” Pike said.

The investigation included asking Twin Pine Casino officials for surveillance tapes, to see if the woman had been there. The casino is about 10 miles from where she was found, Pike said.

Tests were done to determine if the woman had been sexually assaulted. Detectives are awaiting those results as well as toxicology test results.

“We’re not ruling anything out at this point,” Pike said.

While some law enforcement Sunday said the woman had been found wearing just underwear and a coat, Pike continued to decline to confirm that information. He did say she’d apparently been wearing leopard-print heels, which were found with her.

She apparently also had a purse with her. A purse was found in bushes or along the highway not far from where the injured woman was lying. Whether it could have been knocked from her hand or discarded wasn’t known, Pike said.

But information in the purse helped detectives with identification. Her name was confirmed through a thumb print and DMV records.

She was found at about 5 a.m. Sunday, by drivers who came across a body in the highway lane. They stopped and called for help.

She died while being flown to a hospital.

Her death initially was being investigated as a homicide. The autopsy information indicated it now could be considered a possible fatal hit-and-run.

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 521-5412 or randi.rossmann@press?democrat.com.