MO - Yvonne Lowers, 51: Springfield death mystifies authorities, Jan 2011

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Woman found dead in Springfield was bank employee


Police and friends in Springfield say they're baffled by the death of a 51-year-old bank employee whose body was found outside a storage company warehouse.

The woman was identified Tuesday as Yvonne Lowers, a wife and grandmother who lived just outside Springfield less than two miles from where the body was found Monday. She had few clothes on despite the cold weather.

Police say there were no signs of trauma or injury. An autopsy failed to determine the cause of death, and toxicology tests will be performed.

KYTV reports that Lowers was an eight-year employee of Guaranty Bank and was well-liked by her colleagues. Friends told the TV station that Lowers had been married for 35 years, to a truck driver who was stranded in Atlanta by snow.

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/01/11/2577523/woman-found-dead-in-springfield.html
 
From KYTV, Springfield:

Woman whose body was outside warehouses was sweet, punctual bank employee

"I can't imagine why she was out; it was so cold. She's so responsible. Why did she ever walk out?" wondered friend Helen Stacey. "She would never leave a candle any place, nor would she leave her doors unlocked."

Stacey was shocked to hear that her longtime friend was found dead with no shoes on, and her purse left behind at her home, along with her keys, her car, and her shoes.

"When her daughter came here and said, ‘We can't find mother,’ and had left the front door and the storm door unlocked and candles were lit, and that's not Yvonne."

much more, with VIDEO, at
http://www.ky3.com/news/ky3-story-body-identified-01112011,0,7760758.story

original article from KYTV, also with video:

Woman's body turns up outside business in southwest Springfield MO

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- City police are investigating the death of a woman whose body was found behind a row of warehouses on Scenic Avenue south of Battlefield Road on Monday morning. Police department spokesman Cpl. Matt Brown says the death is being treated as suspicious until something is determined otherwise.

Someone called police about the body, which was just outside a garage door at 3119 S. Scenic Ave., shortly after 8 a.m. Two employees with South Central Pool Supply discovered the woman's body on a concrete slab outside a large overhead door. Churchill Coffee and Go Minis storage company are also housed in the same warehouse.

Witnesses say the body was not clothed below the waist. Brown says the body has no signs of trauma or injury, and it's possible the woman died of natural causes. Police had not been able to identify the body by late afternoon and didn't release an approximate age.
 
If anyone knows or has heard anything, please post here <modsnip>. We, as her family, are just trying to get some answers.

Thank You!!!
 
If anyone knows or has heard anything, please post here or private message me. We, as her family, are just trying to get some answers.

Thank You!!!


Welcome infolowers:

I hope that WS can help get answers to what happened to Yvonne Lowers.

It certainly seems from the news reports that everything was out of the ordinary.
Here is what I have gleaned:

She was not seen after 1pm Sunday. Jan. 9, 2011
Her home was found with lights on, candles burning.
The house front door and storm door were unlocked.
Her purse, car keys, car, shoes found at home.
She did not go to work.
She was found deceased on a concrete block outside a warehouse storage area.
She was 1 1/2 miles from home.
She was only wearing a few clothes.
She was nude from the waist down.
No obvious cause of death found.

Questions that come to mind:
Did anyone speak to her on Sat?
Did anyone see her?
Did she have plans for that Sunday?
Was she in the habit of lighting candles?
Would anyone know what she probably had on that day?
Perhaps sweats? Maybe there is a pair missing?

Since she appeared to a kind helpful person,would she have opened the door to a stranger?
Has the house been forensically checked?
Have her phone records been checked? To see who was her last caller?

Did she have any medical problems?
 
http://www.kspr.com/news/local/kspr-husband-of-woman-found-dead-ou-01122011,0,7609122.story

Police say anyone who saw or talked to Lowers between 1:00 Sunday afternoon and 8:15 Monday morning should call the department. They say any detail no matter how small could help them. &#8220;We haven't upgraded it to a homicide we haven't downgraded it to someone who just walked out of their house,&#8221; Brown said. &#8220;Because every death is suspicious, until we prove otherwise.&#8221;

Greene County Medical Examiner Doug Anderson says initial autopsy results show hypothermia may have been the cause of Lowers&#8217; death. He says he did observe bruising on her knees. Anderson says among many things, toxicology results could show if any medication used could cause someone to act out of character. Police are waiting on lab and toxicology results.

I know that if someone suffers from hypothermia, the will start to shed clothes. This from other cases I have worked on. But if the door was unlocked, she could have got back into the house, if she went outside for some reason./I]

Video of husband speaking...
 
Welcome infolowers:

I hope that WS can help get answers to what happened to Yvonne Lowers.

It certainly seems from the news reports that everything was out of the ordinary.
Here is what I have gleaned:

She was not seen after 1pm Sunday. Jan. 9, 2011
Her home was found with lights on, candles burning.
The house front door and storm door were unlocked.
Her purse, car keys, car, shoes found at home.
She did not go to work.
She was found deceased on a concrete block outside a warehouse storage area.
She was 1 1/2 miles from home.
She was only wearing a few clothes.
She was nude from the waist down.
No obvious cause of death found.

Questions that come to mind:
Did anyone speak to her on Sat?
Did anyone see her?
Did she have plans for that Sunday?
Was she in the habit of lighting candles?
Would anyone know what she probably had on that day?
Perhaps sweats? Maybe there is a pair missing?

Since she appeared to a kind helpful person,would she have opened the door to a stranger?
Has the house been forensically checked?
Have her phone records been checked? To see who was her last caller?

Did she have any medical problems?

Ok.....Let me see what I can help with here.

The Nudity is not an issue. The medical examiner has said that he found no trauma. Also, the bottom lock of the front door was locked.

Our, as in her family, timeline is between 7 pm and about 12 am, Sunday night. She never made it into bed that night.

She was also seen and spoken to on Saturday and Sunday. Her last phone call was at 6:30 Sunday night.

She loved candles!!!!

She was doing her routine of getting ready for bed.

She would have never opened her door to a stranger, no matter how dire the circumstances. She would have offered to call the police or someone for them with the storm door still locked.

Forensic testing we are waiting on an answers from.

Anything else anyone can think of? Please let us know. Apparently the Springfield PD can be hard to get ahold of.
 
http://www.kspr.com/news/local/kspr-husband-of-woman-found-dead-ou-01122011,0,7609122.story

Police say anyone who saw or talked to Lowers between 1:00 Sunday afternoon and 8:15 Monday morning should call the department. They say any detail no matter how small could help them. “We haven't upgraded it to a homicide we haven't downgraded it to someone who just walked out of their house,” Brown said. “Because every death is suspicious, until we prove otherwise.”

Greene County Medical Examiner Doug Anderson says initial autopsy results show hypothermia may have been the cause of Lowers’ death. He says he did observe bruising on her knees. Anderson says among many things, toxicology results could show if any medication used could cause someone to act out of character. Police are waiting on lab and toxicology results.

I know that if someone suffers from hypothermia, the will start to shed clothes. This from other cases I have worked on. But if the door was unlocked, she could have got back into the house, if she went outside for some reason./I]

Video of husband speaking...



As far as hypothermia, if you are going to be out in the cold for that long with no shelter, hypothermia is a given. He said it may be a cause....does that mean that her organs showed no signs of this? I have training in it, so I find this part hard to believe.

She was on no medications.
 
Ok.....Let me see what I can help with here.

The Nudity is not an issue. The medical examiner has said that he found no trauma. Also, the bottom lock of the front door was locked.

Our, as in her family, timeline is between 7 pm and about 12 am, Sunday night. She never made it into bed that night.

She was also seen and spoken to on Saturday and Sunday. Her last phone call was at 6:30 Sunday night.

She loved candles!!!!

She was doing her routine of getting ready for bed.

She would have never opened her door to a stranger, no matter how dire the circumstances. She would have offered to call the police or someone for them with the storm door still locked.

Forensic testing we are waiting on an answers from.

Anything else anyone can think of? Please let us know. Apparently the Springfield PD can be hard to get ahold of.

On the off chance, she was outside and locked out, started to walk around, hypothermia set in:
has anyone walked to distance from the house to the storage area?
Probably too late to check for obvious clues since it has been 10 days now.

Would she have opened the door to a woman or a teen?
Were there any valuables taken from the house?

Something caused her to leave the house, with the candles still lit and dressed very sparingly.
 
A few more questions:
Was she prone to depression?
Had she seen a dr lately?
Who was the last person to have seen her?

Did she live in a suburb? How close is the closest neighbor?
Was the back door locked?

Are there security cameras nearby that would capture her image or
a car coming and going from the house?
Banks, service stations, fast food restaurants, neighbor security video?
 
A few more questions:
Was she prone to depression?
Had she seen a dr lately?
Who was the last person to have seen her?

Did she live in a suburb? How close is the closest neighbor?
Was the back door locked?

Are there security cameras nearby that would capture her image or
a car coming and going from the house?
Banks, service stations, fast food restaurants, neighbor security video?

The security cameras could definitely help. Hopefully LE is or has tracked them down but I'd check for any and every camera. They are everywhere these days.
 
My first thought is an undiagnosed seizure disorder. When I have seizures I wander. I've been known to leave the house and walk for blocks and spend the night under bushes. I've walked down the middle of roads with just a nightgown on. I have no memory of what I've done and no real way to alert rescue personal as I'm so weak. I would have no inclination to hit an alert button as I'm "not there".

As a person becomes colder, they do remove their clothing. The last real jaunt I took was in mid October and I was found under a hedge a few blocks from our home. I'd removed my socks and sweater as I felt hot. The sweet EMT guy said that he wrapped me in a blanket as I wouldn't keep my shirt on. Thank goodness it wasn't too awfully cold as I could have been in great trouble.

People in the post ictal state (following a seizure) also do very strange things. We can attempt to get out of things or enter places. I'm known for trying to crawl under any fence. I have no idea why. I used to be a pretty darn lucid girl. Now I crawl under fences. My seizure onset was due to a degenerative illness and started quite suddenly at age 49, after a life time of great health. Just throwing that out there.

My heartfelt condolences go out to this lovely woman's family. It pains me to no end just how much ruckus I cause and how much energy has been put into finding me. I know that each member of my family worries about this scenario with me. To be bluntly honest, I never share with my family all the seizures I have or the strange places I find myself. This could have been the case for Yvonne. Most people try so hard to keep their family from worrying.

Until we invent and allow some sort of tracking devise for willing adults, I'm afraid we'll see more of these tragedies.
 
A few more questions:
Was she prone to depression?
Had she seen a dr lately?
Who was the last person to have seen her?

Did she live in a suburb? How close is the closest neighbor?
Was the back door locked?

Are there security cameras nearby that would capture her image or
a car coming and going from the house?
Banks, service stations, fast food restaurants, neighbor security video?

such good questions dreamweaver....this story is just awful. It sounds to me like this poor woman was taken by force or threat from her home. I just wonder who could have gained access to her and how. Lord I hope LE comes up with some answers quickly.
 
This local story came to mind. Many similarities and I actually know what the outcome was--even though I don't find the follow up article. The woman was not raped, thank goodness. Her injuries came from falling and stumbling. She came very close to dying due to hypothermia as she walked a good distance on a very cold night. It was later reported that several of her pieces of clothing were found nearby. It is thought that she drank a spiked drink or had some sort of strange reaction to a drink at a New Years party up in our hills and walked downhill...very typical of a person loosing consciousness. I happen to know a bit about this case as the local LE and rescue personnel talked to me about it as it happened in the same year my "event" occurred. I also learned an intriguing bit of info. Someone who is post ictal or losing consciousness will often turn toward their handedness. I don't know if that proved true with this woman but the director of our rescue team told me that they use that info to find wandering elders and children.

And wasn't there a thread last year on a young teen who was found dead in front of her family's condo? It was first thought that she was murdered but was later determined to have died of alcohol poisoning and hypothermia. I believe she was also partially undressed. I seem to remember that police determined that friends dropped her off and she never made it in the house.

http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100105/NEWS07/1050335

Police seek tips on suspected rape case

January 05, 2010

"After a woman was found unconscious and hypothermic in a partially developed area near the railroad tracks through Ashland [OR], police are looking for help in unraveling what they suspect is a case of kidnapping and sexual assault.

A passerby called 9-1-1 at about noon on New Year's Day to report finding an unconscious woman on the sidewalk...."

and

"...The woman was rushed to Rogue Valley Medical Center for treatment of "extreme hypothermia" and other injuries...."

and

"....After spending days unraveling what had happened to the woman, investigators now suspect that she was abducted and sexually assaulted, Falls said. They said she walked away from a small party at a home in the hills above downtown Ashland at about 2 a.m. on Friday. But where she went and what happened are still unknown..."

Police ask anyone who saw the woman that night to contact investigators. She is 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs about 100 pounds. She was wearing a bright green ski jacket, blue jeans, gray boots and carrying a green cloth purse with a sequin design on one side.

Investigators also hope that the woman's image, as well as pictures of anyone she might have been with, could have been captured by surveillance cameras at businesses across the downtown area or Railroad District. Anyone with security cameras that could have recorded such pictures is asked to call police....."

more at link (subscription only)
 
On the off chance, she was outside and locked out, started to walk around, hypothermia set in:
has anyone walked to distance from the house to the storage area?
Probably too late to check for obvious clues since it has been 10 days now.

Would she have opened the door to a woman or a teen?
Were there any valuables taken from the house?

Something caused her to leave the house, with the candles still lit and dressed very sparingly.

The area has been walked and no visible clues have been found. There were some screws and cigarette butts found in the area around where she was found. Nothing that you would not expect to be found near a warehouse. We did take pictures but Springfield PD did not collect them. There was no obvious signs of blood found.

We don't believe she would have opened the door for anyone except a child after dark. She was more the type to call the police for you before she would open her home.

No valuables, actually nothing was missing from the home.
 
I assume she had no pets that she may have gone out to assist, fetch, or something. Was she an animal lover? Would she have gone out to try to assist an injured stray animal that seemed to require aid or shelter?

ETA where are my manners? I am very sorry for you and your family's loss, I hope some of the fantastic sleuth minds here are able to help you come up with ideas and leads.
 
A few more questions:
Was she prone to depression?
Had she seen a dr lately?

Who was the last person to have seen her?

Did she live in a suburb? How close is the closest neighbor?
Was the back door locked?

Are there security cameras nearby that would capture her image or
a car coming and going from the house?
Banks, service stations, fast food restaurants, neighbor security video?

Yvonne Lowers was not prone to depression. It is also no where in the family history. The reports have been very correct on the fact that she loved her family, friends, and job very much. There is nothing in this world that would
have driven her to do this intentionally.

The only time she ever really went to the doctor was for a yearly physical and she was in perfect health.

She was last seen that afternoon by neighbors returning home from running errands.

There were no security cameras that we have found near her home.
 
The security cameras could definitely help. Hopefully LE is or has tracked them down but I'd check for any and every camera. They are everywhere these days.

It is actually pretty amazing how very little cameras exist in that area. I have left my card with a few places in case they still did have the tapes. However, if anyone knows of any place please let me know. We would be more than happy to have any copies. We rather know that it doesn't show her than overlook something!
 
I assume she had no pets that she may have gone out to assist, fetch, or something. Was she an animal lover? Would she have gone out to try to assist an injured stray animal that seemed to require aid or shelter?

ETA where are my manners? I am very sorry for you and your family's loss, I hope some of the fantastic sleuth minds here are able to help you come up with ideas and leads.

She did have a dog. A very cute one but only great for companionship. She was an animal lover. However, no, she would not have ventured out, let alone by foot for a stray. She loved everyone but she also knew when and when not to do certain things. Even if it had been her own pet she would have taken her car. Great suggestion though! I will research this angle.

And Thank You!
 
Infolowers...thank you for joining us here...I am so sorry this has happened to Yvonne. I pray that LE has some answers soon....I am baffled at this point.
 
I cannot imagine what would compel her to go out when it seems so out of character from how you describe her but something did. We just need to figure out the what and the why of it.

I want to check out google and look at the area, get a feel for the area between where her house is compared to where she was found.
 

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