In late July, a security guard found the body of Christina Powell, who was first reported missing earlier that month, in the passenger seat of her car
The death of a Texas mom who went missing in July was an accident, officials said.
Christina Powell’s cause of death was “hyperthermia complicating ethanol intoxication,” the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s office said, ruling her death an accident, according to Fox News Digital, San Antonio Express-News, and a local NBC affiliate. She was 39.
The San Antonio Police Department also told Fox News that it is closing the case, stating, “We did not find any evidence leading to a criminal investigation.”
Hyperthermia occurs when the body is no longer able to regulate temperature which raises a person’s body temperature to dangerous and potentially deadly levels. Temperatures when Powell first went missing were well into the high-90s.
The body of Powell, a mom of two boys 3 and 12, was found in the front passenger seat of her 2020 Nissan Rogue by a security guard in the parking lot of the Huebner Oaks Center in San Antonio on July 23, police told Fox News Digital.
Her car had reportedly been parked in the lot for about a week, police told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The security guard who discovered her allegedly smelled a foul odor coming from the car before seeing her body.
The outlet also reports that her purse, including information identifying her, was found in the vehicle.
There was no apparent trauma to her body, local outlet My San Antonio reported. Powell’s body was transported to Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.
Confirming the loss on Facebook, Powell’s mother Claudia Mobley wrote on July 25, “My beautiful daughter, Christina Powell, has been found, deceased. I am heartbroken. Thank you all for your prayers.”
Powell was last seen July 5 walking out of her home and heading to work at about 10:30 a.m., according to a doorbell camera video seen by Fox News Digital.
“We didn’t really have any kind of in-depth conversation. It was basically, ‘Good morning.’ She told me she was late,” Mobley, 70, told Fox News. “Then, she was leaving for work and I told her to be careful. And I probably told her, ‘I love you.’ “
Earlier that morning, Powell called her office where she works as a paralegal and told them she would be late. But she never showed up.
Later in the day, a colleague went to her home and asked Powell’s 12-year-old son if her mother was there, according to Fox News.
“My grandson answered the door, and the lady said, ‘Is your mom here?’ ” Mobley told the site. “He said, ‘No, she’s at work’ … He went and checked, and of course, she wasn’t here.”