EDITOR’S NOTE: This report has been corrected to reflect the proper spelling of Stephanie Caldwell’s first name.
PORT ANGELES — Police on Sunday identified the woman who died Saturday after plunging off a West Eighth Street bridge as 21-year-old Port Angeles resident Stephanie Diane Caldwell.
Caldwell’s family told police that she had made “suicidal-type comments” Friday, city police Sgt. Glen Roggenbuck said.
According to Caldwell’s Facebook page, she was a 2011 Port Angeles High School graduate and a barista at Higher Grounds coffee in Port Angeles.
Family members posted several farewells to Caldwell on Facebook.
“I miss you more than words can explain, Steph. My heart is broken. Never take life for granted because the ones you love the most can be gone in flash,” Stephanie’s brother Kyler Caldwell said on his Facebook page.
Friends posted remembrances of Caldwell and offered their love and comfort to the family.
Witness report
At 10:26 a.m. Saturday, a bicyclist reported that a woman had plunged off West Eighth Street’s eastern bridge that spans the Valley Street ravine.
Roggenbuck said that, according to a witness, the fall appeared to have been a deliberate act.
Police found no suicide note on the bridge over Valley Creek, on the woman’s body or at her home, he said.
Caldwell had a history of drug-related activity, according to court documents.
She was one of two women arrested in January as alleged accomplices in a heroin trafficking organization in Port Angeles.
The arrests were made after investigations by the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team.
Garrett R. Horstman, 20, was arrested Jan. 8 for selling heroin to an OPNET informant on three occasions in November and December 2013.
Caldwell was arrested Jan. 9 after OPNET developed probable cause to believe that Caldwell was the accomplice of Horstman during a heroin delivery, according to an OPNET report.
She was charged with delivery of a controlled substance-heroin and with maintaining a vehicle or premises for drug trafficking, and she was ordered to take part in a treatment program.
Court documents show she was released from drug court custody Aug. 17 to enter a treatment program.
The bridge over Valley Creek is 98 feet tall at its highest point.
In July 2012, a 20-year-old Port Angeles woman jumped to her death from the western Eighth Street bridge into the Tumwater Creek ravine.
A 19-year-old Port Angeles man jumped to his death from the eastern bridge in April 2009.
The twin bridges opened in February 2009, replacing a pair of trestle-like spans that were built in 1936 to carry a state highway that since has been turned over to the city.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
PORT ANGELES — A 21-year-old Port Angeles woman fell to her death from the eastern Eighth Street bridge Saturday morning, police said.
Police were withholding the women’s name Saturday afternoon because some members of her family had not been notified, Police Sgt. Glen Roggenbuck said.
A bicyclist reported the fall at 10:26 a.m.
The women plunged off the towering bridge that spans a wide ravine into a remote area off Valley Street.
Roggenbuck said the fall appears to have been a deliberate act.
“There was a witness,” he said. “It does not appear to be an accident, that’s for sure.”
No suicide note
Police found no suicide note on the bridge or the women’s body.
The bridge over Valley Creek is 98 feet tall at its highest point.
In July 2012, a 20-year-old Port Angeles woman jumped to her death from the western Eighth Street bridge into the Tumwater Creek ravine.
A 19-year-old Port Angeles man jumped to his death from the eastern bridge in April 2009.
The twin bridges opened in February 2009, replacing a pair of trestle-like spans that were built in 1936 to carry a state highway that since has been turned over to the city.
“Over the course of the last few years, we’ve actually talked a few people off the bridge,” Roggenbuck said.
Police have also intercepted people who have made suicidal threats about the bridge before they arrived at either of the spans, Roggenbuck added.
