Coroner: Researcher’s cyanide death was suicide
PITTSBURGH (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 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 Hospital in November. She died about four hours later.
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.