Death of nurse in Pasco still suspicious
.jpg "A traveling nurse found inside his company car died from hypertensive coronary heart disease. However, officials still don’t know what brought it on, or why he had a head wound.")
A traveling nurse found inside his company car last week died from hypertensive coronary heart disease, the Franklin County coroner concluded.
However, officials aren’t yet sure what brought on Joseph A. Strang’s sudden death or why he had a wound to his head.
An autopsy was performed Tuesday by Dr. Martha Burk, a forensic pathologist from Vancouver.
Coroner Dan Blasdel said in a news release that while he determined the cause of death to be heart disease, the manner is pending lab results. It can take at least a couple months to get those results back from a state laboratory.
Strang, 47, had been working at Avalon Health and Rehabilitation Center in Pasco.
The Colbert man had been a registered nurse since 1999.
Police and paramedics responded to the North 22nd Avenue center at 6:35 p.m. Thursday after getting a report of a man in a car having a medical problem.
Strang was dead once they arrived.
Police initially said it appeared Strang died from a head wound.
Sgt. Scott Warren on Tuesday said it is considered a suspicious death and detectives are continuing to work the case.
“There is no direct threat to the public at this point, or anything that leads us to believe that there is any direct threat to the public in that area,” Warren told the Herald.
Anyone with information that may help the investigation is asked to call the Pasco Police Department at 509-545-3421.
This story was originally published September 4, 2018 at 2:04 PM.