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Death of Aspen-area woman investigated

Joel StoningtonVail CO, Colorado

ASPEN – The Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death of a local woman after the discovery of her body in an Aspen-area neighborhood.Ron Ryan, investigator for the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed that the woman was 59 years old, white and a local resident. Ryan said he arrived a half hour after law enforcement from the Sheriff’s Office and Aspen Police Department had received the call and taped off the scene. “We do know who it is, but we are not releasing the identity until we can notify family members,” Ryan said. “It would be premature to make assumptions on the cause or manner of death.”A local couple that asked to remain anonymous notified law enforcement. The two were reportedly out for a walk around 5 p.m. when they spotted the body face-down in a shallow ravine beneath a half-built home, the Sheriff’s Office said. The woman, wearing green pants with embroidery and a purple sweater, was among weeds and trees below a house at 0091 E. Lupine Drive, off state Highway 82 west of Independence Pass, the Sheriff’s Office said.Police cordoned off an area at the bottom of a small dip in East Lupine Drive. To the left of the road, the ground quickly falls off into a gulch under the partly constructed modern house that stands out above the road. The woman was found roughly 10 feet down from the side of the road, the Sheriff’s Office said. Ryan would not speculate on cause or time of death, nor would he say how long he thought the body had been in the gulch. He did say the body would be taken to Grand Junction for an autopsy Sunday night or this morning. Another local couple spoke with Ryan at the scene and said they saw the woman at a Kentucky Derby party when they left around 8 p.m. Saturday. Ryan would not confirm whether the woman had been at the party.


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