Missing Alabama woman found dead in police van parked outside police offices

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Natasha ⚯͛
@ndelriego
Christina Nance, 29, who was reported missing 2 weeks ago, was found dead inside a police van parked outside the law enforcement offices in Huntsville, Alabama.
The coroners report showed no signs of foul play or any findings of trauma but the family isn’t buying it.


11:05 AM · Oct 14, 2021

[vanlassie]

1. WTF???

[Baitball Blogger]

8. +1000?????

They probably left her in the van and she died from heat stroke.

[Arkansas Granny]

19. That was my first thought as well. Several years ago

one of our local law enforcement brought a woman in for questioning. They put her in an interrogation room and forgot about her. She was there for 3 days with no food, water or bathroom facilities. Luckily, she survived the incident.

[Celerity]

2. #vandeath via Bama pigs

[ananda]

3. That's creepy. What did those cops do to her?

I want police heads to roll over this.

[imaginary girl]

4. ???

Wouldn't foul play include leaving her in a van? It has to have been too hot for that in Alabama!

[ColinC]

10. Absolutely

[sakabatou]

5. We definitely need answers

[a kennedy]

6. Two damn weeks???? 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬

[Rocknation]

30. They're not saying that she'd been dead for two weeks

Last edited Fri Oct 15, 2021, 12:57 PM - Edit history (1)

But then again, why would they?


Rocknation

[Bluethroughu]

7. Disgusting.

Here we go again.

[ColinC]

9. Um. Dying from anything while locked in a van without any assistance

...isn't that the definition of "foul play"?

[a kennedy]

24. Ah, I THINK THEY SHOULD CALL IT MURDER!!!!! and sorry for yelling, but this

is just so wrong, and murder charges need to be filed. 🤬 🤬 🤬

[ColinC]

27. Actually yelling is likely the most appropriate response to something like this.

And it is absolutely, without a doubt, murder in my book. I would say it's unbelievable but at this point, it would be a downright lie.

[malaise]

11. This stinks

Good effin' grief!

[niyad]

26. Pretty sure that the body did, too. How could anybody fail to notice?

[malaise]

28. This is crazy

Still banging head

[niyad]

29. Some heads I would like to bang!

[SoCalDavidS]

12. One Would Think There Should Be Severe Consequences For This

But it's the police, and it's Alabama, and it's a dead black woman, so I'm not holding my breath, as usual.

Best case scenario is probably some half hearted apology, and internal investigation leading nowhere.

[mn9driver]

13. The police story is that she entered the van on her own.

Apparently they have vehicles that are parked for extended periods and they are not checked—-and not locked either, I guess.

This is messed up.

[captain queeg]

14. Well maybe. But intheir parking lot?

[yardwork]

17. I don't believe them. At this point, I just don't believe anything they say.

[ecstatic]

22. +1000. nt

[rurallib]

23. if it wasn't locked why didn't she get out and even if it was

and she was inside, why didn't she get out?

Something really stinks in 'Bama

[uponit7771]

15. Fuckin WOW !!!

[onetexan]

16. DOJ/FBI need to be investigating

[wnylib]

21. +1000.

[yonder]

18. If someone is found dead in my car, on my property

after being reported missing two weeks earlier, my protests of innocence aren't going to get me very far.

[Drum]

20. Yup! 👆 n/t

[yardwork]

36. Exactly. There needs to be an outside investigation.

I assume there are surveillance cameras on the parking lot.

[Joinfortmill]

25. OMG. Somebody has some big time explaining to do.

[berni_mccoy]

31. If only she had been white...

That is the sad state of affairs in this country

[Rocknation]

32. "...Christina had often visited the police department for help

and had previously called family members to pick her up there. Police noted that she had been arrested for multiple nonviolent offenses over the past eight years."
link

A self-selected final resting place?


Rocknation

[stopdiggin]

34. a posibility

Kinda' sounds like she ended up in the parked vehicle of her own volition. Fairly well known behavior. Stairwells, entryways, sheds - any kind of shelter out of the elements - hidey-holes of every possible description come into play ... It's certainly sad - but this doesn't surprise me nearly as much as it does some here. There might be some slight negligence involved - if somebody failed to lock something that should have been secured (and that's just assumption) - but, based on what's been reported here, I don't know if I'm ready to conclude anything like, "homicide!"

[yardwork]

35. You're making a lot of assumptions.

[stopdiggin]

38. so is just about everybody else on this thread (nt)

[femmedem]

41. You are spot on.

The vehicle didn't open from the inside because it had been used to transport inmates. And yes, it was negligent to leave it unlocked.
So, so sad.

https://www.al.com/news/2021/10/video-shows-christina-nance-in-huntsville-police-van-12-days-before-her-body-was-found.html

[rpannier]

33. Sooo... she climbed into the van and sat there dying

Didn't get out of the van, just stayed and died.
I may have been born in the morning, but it wasn't this morning

[femmedem]

40. It didn't open from the inside because it had been used to transport inmates.

https://www.al.com/news/2021/10/video-shows-christina-nance-in-huntsville-police-van-12-days-before-her-body-was-found.html

[Champp]

37. Somebody better investigate soon

and not the Huntsville PD.

[femmedem]

39. She entered the van on her own. It was used to transport inmates so it didn't open from the inside.

"The van was purchased in 1995 and had formerly been used to transport inmates. It has also been used to carry evidence released by courts to be destroyed after its use in trial. Because the van had formerly been used for inmate transportation, it was possible for a person to open the van doors from the outside, but not possible to open them from the inside, McCarver said. It is department policy that vehicles should be locked, he said."

There is video showing her entering the van, apparently.

This is an awful tragedy, but it appears that it was human error: someone failed to lock a car that was no longer in service and which proved deadly, like a junked refrigerator that still has its door.


https://www.al.com/news/2021/10/video-shows-christina-nance-in-huntsville-police-van-12-days-before-her-body-was-found.html

[Rocknation]

44. Looking more and more like the deliberate suicide

of a mentally disturbed person who had a love/hate relationship with the police.


rocktivity

[femmedem]

46. Update: she was alive, moving in the van from Saturday through Tuesday.

Last edited Sat Oct 16, 2021, 01:48 PM - Edit history (2)

I think she was just looking for a safe, quiet place to sleep out on the streets, and it turned out not to be safe at all.
She had no way of knowing that the van wouldn't open from inside, but it is baffling that she never cried out for help. I suspect her mental health problems prevented her from understanding what was happening. Or perhaps she was afraid to ask for help from the police who walked by.


https://patch.com/alabama/huntsville/huntsville-police-department-huntsville-police-provides-update-christina-nance

[Sympthsical]

42. Feels like that article talked around an awful lot

Was she homeless? Was she dealing with mental illness? Both? The article says quite a bit without outright saying quite a bit.

There is video, and it appears she did go in and get herself locked inside. Think of kids in the woods and abandoned refrigerators.

It begs the question why she went inside a van.

And, oh yeah. The negligence here, not locking that van up. This was an accident waiting to happen. If it wasn't her, it could have been children. And is no one checking surveillance? Why have the cameras at all then?

Poor her, though. Terrible way to die.

Ah, article downthread answers my question:

McMurray also said the department had been working with Nance’s family for more than a year through the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT), a program designed for first responders who handle crisis calls involving people with a mental health condition.

[Rocknation]

45. My suspicions of suicide were aroused

when her family described her simply as someone who was very nice and lovely. At the age of 29? No mention of a job or even interests?

Then I read that she's though she was working with the CIT, she's been arrested many times.


rocktivity

[Patton French]

43. Horrible (n/t)