A doctor who had an on again off again relationship with her boyfriend, tried to force her way into his home by sliding down his chimney, but got stuck, and died. Her body was found three days later. Dr. Jacquelyn Kotarac, 49, first tried to get into the house with a shovel, then climbed a ladder to the roof last Wednesday night, removed the chimney cap and slid feet first down the flue.
While trying to break in, the man in question fled to avoid a confrontation. Sgt. Mary DeGeare said, “She made an unbelievable error in judgment and nobody understands why, and unfortunately she’s passed away,” Moodie told The Associated Press. “She had her issues — she had her demons — but I never lost my respect for her.” Peoplepc
Moodie, the man she was enamoured of, 58, would not comment on the circumstances that led to her death, saying it was more important to focus on the good she did in life. Moodie, who runs an engineering consulting firm, said Kotarac was a superb internist who often provided service and medication free of charge to her patients. Firefighters spent 5 hours Saturday dismantling the chimney, and flue from outside the home to extract Kotarac’s body, DeGeare said.
A cause of death has not been determined, and an autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday. Foul play is not suspected, though investigators have been looking into the incident as suspicious.
newsdeskinternational
/ 09/01/2010Update
Coroner: California doctor suffocated in chimney
A coroner says a Central California doctor whose decomposing body was found in the chimney of her boyfriend’s house died of asphyxiation.
Kern County Sheriff-Coroner spokesman Ray Pruitt determined Tuesday that Dr. Jacquelyn Kotarac was unable to breathe in the narrow chimney where she was lodged after apparently trying to get into the Bakersfield home on Aug 25.
Her preliminary cause of death is listed as mechanical asphyxiation, meaning her chest could not expand in the small space.
Police believe the 49-year-old internist wanted to confront a man with whom she had an “on-again, off-again” relationship. The body was discovered Saturday.
The owner of the house would not comment on the circumstances that led to the death.
http://www.mynorthwest.com/category/national_news_articles/20100831/Cops:-Calif-doctor-gets-stuck-in-chimney,-dies/