AUSTIN, Minn. — An Austin police official identified the 18-year-old woman found deceased on a sidewalk next to a house as Erica Manzano, but investigators have yet to establish a cause of death and might not know for weeks pending toxicology results.
Austin Police Chief David Mckichan said Tuesday morning, Oct. 22, that there was nothing to indicate physical violence or assault was a factor in Manzano's death. Out of respect to the young woman and her family, he didn't want to speculate on what caused her death without more investigatory information.
"I can say trauma, a physical event, is not something that the medical examination has indicated to us what occurred," Mckichan said.
Austin police said Manzano's father found her body Saturday morning on a sidewalk next to a house in Austin. Police found a 20-year-old Austin man on the roof of the house. The man fled, but police later arrested him and took him into custody. He remains in the Mower County jail on a probation violation.
Mckichan said the Austin man knew Manzano, but that at this point they are not looking at charges against him. Manzano was an Austin High School student.
ADVERTISEMENT
