PASCO — A second inmate in a month has died at the Franklin County jail.
An autopsy was being conducted Tuesday after a 42-year-old Othello woman was found dead in her cell in the Pasco jail last week.
The Snohomish County Medical Examiner is trying to determine why Faviola Valenzuela died on March 15, said Franklin County Coroner Curtis McGary.
Valenzuela was brought to the jail the previous weekend, Sheriff Jim Raymond told the Herald.
A couple days later on Tuesday, another inmate alerted jail officials that Valenzuela was having a medical problem at 11:30 a.m., Raymond said. A corrections officer found she had died.
Raymond did not have information available on why she was taken into custody, but he said there were some mental health concerns.
Family members are still struggling to find out what happened to Valenzuela, according to a GoFundMe campaign set up by Juli De Dios. The site describes her as a good sister, aunt and daughter, who took good care of those she loved.
She struggled with a mental disability, the GoFundMe campaign said. People who want to donate can go to bit.ly/ValenzuelaFundraiser.
The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office is investigating her death, and the information will be provided to the prosecutor’s office and the county’s insurance company.
Last month, Thomas D. Franklin, 57, collapsed in the booking area of the jail on Feb. 22.
He was taken to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland where he died the next day.
Blood test results have not returned to determine what Franklin died from. The sheriff’s office is also investigating that death.
Franklin was being booked in on out-of-state warrants at the time.
