Photo courtesy of Whitney Nance/GoFundMe
A coroner determined trauma nor foul play contributed to the death of Christina Nance, who was found dead in the back of an old police van in Alabama.
Madison County coroner Dr. Tyler Berryhill stated the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences did an initial assessment of Nance’s body on Tuesday, reported The Associated Press. The autopsy results indicated “no foul play was involved in the death nor any findings of trauma.”
Nance’s cause of death could not be determined and is pending the results of a toxicology test.
“The official cause of death will be determined pending the completion of the autopsy and toxicology reports,” Huntsville Police said in a statement to Al.com. “The results of the toxicology analysis and other additional studies can take several months to complete, and they will be finalized by a state medical examiner.”
According to WAFF, a Huntsville Police officer discovered the body in the back of a van parked at police headquarters on October 7. The department had not used the van since March 2021, when it was used to transport evidence from cleared cases that were supposed to be destroyed. The van was unlocked when the corpse was discovered.
A Huntsville Police spokesperson said investigators are reviewing surveillance footage to determine when Nance entered the fan. Nance is not an inmate, nor is she connected to the jail.
Nance’s loved ones are questioning the circumstances surrounding her death. The family is demanding to see security footage from police headquarters.
“We do not believe that our sister would just randomly walk to a van and climb in it. First of all, why wasn’t the van locked on police property?” Whitney Nance, her sister, asked during an interview with WAFF. Whitney said the family had reported Christina missing two weeks ago.
“She was in the van the entire time, and nobody knew. Not even the police department knew,” Whitney added.
The family has retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump.
“We will get to the truth of what happened to Christina Nance, the young Black woman found dead in the police van in front of the Huntsville Police Department,” Crump said in a statement to AP. “We lift up Christina’s family with prayer as they mourn this devastating loss.”
The Nance family is raising money for Christina’s funeral expenses on GoFundMe.