Bruising and other injuries a Victory woman sustained before her death Tuesday were caused during a delirium from acute streptococcal meningitis, an infection of the brain.
The Cayuga County Sheriff's Office has closed the case in Anna J. Gunton's death following a preliminary report and an autopsy completed Wednesday by the Onondaga County Medical Examiner's Office.
The acute streptococcal meningitis is not considered to be contagious, Sheriff Rob Outhouse said. Meningitis can be caused by either a virus or bacteria infecting the fluid of a person's spinal cord and the fluid surrounding the brain.
Gunton, 52, of 2141 Brandt Road, was employed at Marshall's on Grant Avenue in Auburn and ran a sales booth at the Syracuse Regional Market.
Gunton's cause of death was not immediately explainable when she died 7:12 p.m. Tuesday at University Hospital in Syracuse.
Law enforcement officials weren't sure if Gunton had been the victim of an assault and a struggle or had injured herself because of a medical condition. Some points of her home were in disarray, which pointed to it being the site of a struggle or a medical episode.
“That's one of the reasons that we dove into this. We are the finders of truth. We have to investigate it,” Outhouse said.
The Cayuga County Health Department has been contacted and will monitor both
first responders and people close to Gunton. She lived alone but was found un-
conscious by someone she knew.
The Cayuga County Emergency Dispatch Center received a cellular 911 call 1:52 p.m. Monday seeking an ambulance for a woman lying on the floor and with blood coming from her mouth.
The county's northern volunteer ambulance corps, CIMVAC, later contacted the sheriff's office over concerns with Gunton's injuries. Sheriff's deputies were assisted by state police investigators and forensic specialists, the Cayuga County District Attorney's Office and the Cayuga County Coroner's Office.
A final report from the medical examiner's office will be issued in several weeks or months.
Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net
The acute streptococcal meningitis is not considered to be contagious, Sheriff Rob Outhouse said. Meningitis can be caused by either a virus or bacteria infecting the fluid of a person's spinal cord and the fluid surrounding the brain.
Gunton, 52, of 2141 Brandt Road, was employed at Marshall's on Grant Avenue in Auburn and ran a sales booth at the Syracuse Regional Market.
Gunton's cause of death was not immediately explainable when she died 7:12 p.m. Tuesday at University Hospital in Syracuse.
Law enforcement officials weren't sure if Gunton had been the victim of an assault and a struggle or had injured herself because of a medical condition. Some points of her home were in disarray, which pointed to it being the site of a struggle or a medical episode.
“That's one of the reasons that we dove into this. We are the finders of truth. We have to investigate it,” Outhouse said.
The Cayuga County Health Department has been contacted and will monitor both
first responders and people close to Gunton. She lived alone but was found un-
conscious by someone she knew.
The Cayuga County Emergency Dispatch Center received a cellular 911 call 1:52 p.m. Monday seeking an ambulance for a woman lying on the floor and with blood coming from her mouth.
The county's northern volunteer ambulance corps, CIMVAC, later contacted the sheriff's office over concerns with Gunton's injuries. Sheriff's deputies were assisted by state police investigators and forensic specialists, the Cayuga County District Attorney's Office and the Cayuga County Coroner's Office.
A final report from the medical examiner's office will be issued in several weeks or months.
Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net
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