Authorities ID Woman Found Dead in Her Apartment

The County Coroner’s Office has identified the woman found dead in her apartment on Parrott Drive in San Mateo, and authorities say they are currently treating the death as a suicide.

Debra Maher, 54, was found dead at about 3:15 p.m. Tuesday in apartment No. 3 of the complex at 2003 Parrott Drive, said County Coroner Robert Foucrault.

At the , firefighters on the scene also detected a hazardous material, prompting authorities to issue a shelter-in-place advisory and evacuate neighboring apartments. Several agencies, including the San Mateo County Hazardous Materials Response Team, helped to secure the area.

Foucrault said the hazardous material appeared to be a high concentration of carbon monoxide in the air, which firefighters detected immediately upon entering the apartment. He said there were no injuries to first responders or to any other residents of the complex.

Foucrault said his office believes Maher died of carbon monoxide poisoning, but that they are awaiting verification from the toxicology report.

“There is a chemical that was involved, we’re just verifying the chemical that we think it is,” he said.

He said Maher appeared to have used “devices” in the apartment that would emit carbon monoxide – for example, a gas-powered stove or heater could be used – in order to take her own life. Authorities currently believe her death was a suicide.

“It’s being investigated as such,” Foucrault said. “There’s nothing to indicate that it was anything other than that.”