PORT ANGELES — Police have identified D. Ann Shortess as the 76-year-old Port Angeles woman who police believe committed suicide by jumping off the western Eighth Street bridge.
Shortess was identified late Tuesday after she was found dead that morning beneath the Tumwater Creek bridge in Port Angeles.
Police searched Shortess’ Port Angeles residence Tuesday afternoon and found a note from her “referencing her intent to commit suicide,” Deputy Police Chief Brian Smith said.
He declined to provide more details about the contents of the note.
Shortess had lived in a home she owned about five blocks from the bridge in the 900 block of West Sixth Street, according to the Clallam County Assessor’s Office.
“Our information is that she lived alone,” Smith said.
The records show the home was purchased in 2001 by John M. and Ann D. Brennis.
The records include a 2002 death certificate for John M. Brennis.
Ownership was changed to D. Ann Shortess after John M. Brennis died.
Shortess’ body was found Tuesday morning beneath the approximately 100-foot-tall bridge that spans the Tumwater Creek truck route west of downtown.
Smith said Wednesday that an investigative report on Shortess’ death was to be delivered to Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Nichols by the end of the workday.
Smith said her only known relatives live out of state.
“We have limited information in terms of when she jumped,” he added.
9-1-1 call
The fire department received a 9-1-1 call at 8:18 a.m. Tuesday about a person who appeared to be unconscious along the side of the roadway below the bridge.
Smith said emergency personnel arrived at the scene within a few minutes, then called for assistance from police at 8:26 a.m.
Officers were at the scene beginning at 8:30 a.m., he said.
Nichols, who also acts as county coroner, said the final determination of Shortess’ cause of death will be made in consultation with Dr. Eric Kiesel of Tacoma, the county’s contract pathologist.
Nichols said Wednesday that toxicology tests will be conducted on Shortess’ remains to determine if drugs are present.
Reason for death?
Once Nichols receives the investigative report, an attempt will be made to piece together the cause, or reason, for her death and the manner, or how, she died.
“Someone could die from a gunshot wound. Then the question would be, was it third-party or self-inflicted?” Nichols explained.
An autopsy may be performed, he said.
The Tumwater Creek bridge’s companion eastern span, the Valley Creek Bridge, also is about 100 feet tall at its highest point.
The bridges — which have railings 4 feet, 6 inches tall — have been the site of three other suicide jumps by Port Angeles residents since February 2009, when the bridges, which replaced spans built in 1936, were opened.
Council members decided Feb. 17 to place eight signs with a 24-hour suicide hotline phone number on the two bridges. They will be in place midmonth, Public Works Director Craig Fulton said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
