Coroner: Researcher's Cyanide Death Was Suicide
PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) - A coroner has concluded that the death of a western Pennsylvania medical researcher found to have cyanide in her body last fall was a suicide.
Authorities in Allegheny County said co-workers found 35-year-old Nicole Kotchey of Ross Township on the floor of her office at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Magee-Womens Research Institute in November. She died about four hours later.
A mobile crime unit was called to the scene after she was found.
Medical examiner Dr. Karl Williams attributed the death to cyanide in November but deferred a ruling on the manner of death.
His office said Tuesday that Kotchey died of the combined toxic effects of cyanide and a medication used to treat epilepsy.
Her death came a week after another former UPMC medical researcher was convicted of first-degree murder in the April 2013 cyanide poisoning death of his wife.
The trial of Pitt researcher Robert Ferrante in the cyanide death of his wife raised public awareness about the effects of cyanide.
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