PORT TOWNSEND — Investigators have ruled out foul play after an autopsy was conducted on the body of 36-year-old Melissa Ann Graves, who died Saturday night in a vehicle fire on Morgan Hill.
“There is no evidence of foul play,”‘ said Port Townsend Police Sgt. Ed Green.
Graves, who was 10 weeks pregnant, was believed to have been unconscious when her 2005 Honda Pilot ran into an embankment at the corner of Reed and Quincy streets.
The sport utility vehicle barely missed a utility pole and chain link fence before coming to rest against the fence, according to the police report.
Green said it was possible that Graves was unconscious at the time of the crash, the result of a diabetic reaction.
Graves was the wife of Lawrence Graves, vice president and general manager of Frontier Bank and president of the Jefferson County Economic Development Council.
Previous police reports erroneously said that Graves was seven months pregnant with the couple’s first child.
According to Officer David Winegar’s police report, a witness said she thought she saw a vehicle matching the description of Graves’ in the same location about an hour before the car was reported on fire.
Two investigations are under way and must conclude before the Port Townsend Police Department can piece together the incident.
The evidence from the autopsy is still being analyzed and results will not be available for a couple of weeks, said Juelie Dalzell, county coroner and prosecuting attorney.
East Jefferson Fire and Rescue Chief Mike Mingee is heading the investigation into the vehicle fire’s cause.
He said Monday that he’s taken the investigation as far as he can and expects a forensic engineer from a Tacoma firm specializing in vehicle fires to take over the investigation on Friday.
“We’re kind of at a standstill with the investigation until those two are over,” said Green.
A profile of Mrs. Graves appears by clicking the “obituary” link at the upper left of this page.