GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.—Authorities say a 59-year-old woman whose body was found in an irrigation canal in Fruita was identified using a lot number engraved on her hip replacement.
Mesa County’s chief deputy coroner, Kim Hollingshead, says Elizabeth “Susanne” Hiles of Grand Junction drowned and her death has been ruled an accident. The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel ( ) reports Hiles’ body was found Thursday morning near her home.
Hollingshead says investigators have not determined how the woman ended up in the canal, but he indicated she was intoxicated.
Coroner’s officials contacted the company that made the hip replacement, and a representative checked the numbers in a database and made a possible identification. Authorities then went to Hiles’ neighborhood, where a neighbor identified the woman through a photograph.
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Information from: The Daily Sentinel,
