Police and coroner confirm deceased was a woman, correcting initial witness account; no foul play suspected
By Delayna Earley and Amber Hewitt
The Island News
BEAUFORT — A woman was found dead inside a vehicle at Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park in downtown Beaufort on Saturday, Oct. 31, after a family reportedly noticed she was unresponsive and contacted police.
The Beaufort Police Department responded at approximately 11:12 a.m. to a report of an unresponsive person inside a parked vehicle at 706 Bay St., in a parking lot across from the children’s playground on the eastern side of the park.
The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
Master Sgt. Sean Flomer with the Beaufort Police Department and Chief Deputy Coroner Shane Bowers with the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office confirmed Monday, Nov. 2, that the deceased was a woman, correcting an initial eyewitness account that identified the person as a man.
David Fisher, who said he provided a statement to police, told The Island News on Saturday that he first noticed someone inside a gray Jeep Renegade just before 7 a.m. while walking to the nearby public restrooms.
Fisher said the driver’s seat was reclined and the person appeared to be sleeping.
“I didn’t think anything of it,” Fisher said.
According to Fisher, a couple visiting the nearby playground with their child later noticed the person was not moving and called police.
Officers broke the Jeep’s front passenger-side window to gain access to the vehicle. Photographs taken at the scene show shattered glass on the pavement beside the Jeep, which bore a Florida license plate.
Fisher said officers spoke with witnesses before the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office responded to the scene.
Flomer confirmed Monday that police did not suspect criminal activity and that the case had been turned over to the coroner’s office.
Bowers also confirmed that foul play was not suspected.
The woman’s identity and cause of death have not been released. It is not yet known how long the vehicle had been parked at the waterfront.
An autopsy is being performed on Monday, Nov. 2, according to Bowers, and the coroner’s office will release the name of the deceased and additional pertinent information once that has been completed.
The Island News will update this story as additional information becomes available.
Correction: An earlier version of this story identified the deceased as a man based on an eyewitness account. The Beaufort Police Department and Beaufort County Coroner’s Office subsequently confirmed the deceased was a woman. The story has been updated to reflect that information.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.