ROBESON COUNTY, SC (WBTW) – A Robeson County woman’s death was the result of “multiple blunt force injuries to the head,” according the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
The Medical Examiner released the autopsy report on Patricia Hill on Friday morning. Hill, 66, was found dead in her home on Happy Hill Road near Fairmont on August 24.
Hill operated a beauty shop behind her home. A HAZMAT team responded to the shop the day Hill’s body was found, and several people were treated for chemical exposure at Southeastern Regional Medical Center in Lumberton.
The autopsy report indicated Hill had at least three “circular impact sites” on her head.
In addition, 70% of her body was charred. The report stated that minimal soot in Hill’s airways and only light saturation of carbon monoxide in her body indicated “that she was most likely not alive at the time of the fire.”
It is unclear if the burns came from chemicals or from flames. Calls for clarification placed late Friday to the Medical Examiner’s Office and the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office were not immediately returned.
