Missing Hiker Patti Pendleton Died of Heart Disease, Medical Examiner Says

COVENTRY, RI—Missing hiker Patti Pendleton is coming home for the last time. Her funeral is Tuesday morning from the Avery Funeral Home in Hope Valley, her son wrote on his Facebook page.

Today, the state health department released the cause of death.

She died of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease, according to Joseph Wendelken, the spokesman for the state health department.

The cause of death is the only information the medical examiner's office is obligated to make public, he said.

Pendleton's body was found Sunday afternoon. She had last been heard from the Monday before. Her son, the Coventry police department, the state Department of Environmental, numerous other agencies and volunteers searched for her for six days. In the end, her two dogs, who had gone hiking with her, led DEM police to her body.

She was found a little more than a mile away from the place where she'd left her car.

The DEM said she had apparently entered the densely wooded area seeking shelter and later succumbed to exposure to the elements. But the official cause of death would be up to the medical examiner to determine.

The medical examiner's determination was heart disease.