Coroner to Determine Whether Woman's Death Accidental or Suicide

Following is the Lake County Sheriff's Office news release regarding the death of Maria Carlsen.

Today, at approximately 11 a.m., Sheriff’s investigators received a tip from someone who said they may have seen Maria Carlsen last Monday afternoon, between 1 and 2 p.m., walking along Route 12 near Ivanhoe Road in unincorporated Wauconda. Based on this information, a team of sheriff’s investigators began searching the area. Shortly before 1 p.m., investigators located the body of Mrs. Carlsen on the east side of Route 12, approximately one mile south of Route 59.

Investigators recovered a water bottle and two prescription pill bottles from the scene. One of the bottles contained a generic form of Xanax and was prescribed to Mrs. Carlsen. The other bottle contained Seroquel, which is an atypical anti-psychotic medication that was prescribed to a relative of Mrs. Carlsen’s.

 “Obviously this is a very tragic ending to an incredibly tragic case,” said Sheriff Mark Curran. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the Carlsen family as they now begin the process of grieving the loss of their loved one.”

Mrs. Carlsen’s body was turned over to the Lake County Coroner’s Office where an autopsy will be scheduled in the coming days. There were no obvious signs of trauma to the body and investigators are considering Mrs. Carlsen’s death to be either accidental or a suicide at this time. However, no official cause of death will be determined until investigators have received the results of the autopsy.

Once the autopsy is completed, an update regarding Mrs. Carlsen’s cause of death will be released.