A medical examiner has found that actress Misty Upham died from “blunt force trauma to her head and torso” as a result of a fall from a ravine in a Seattle suburb.
Upham, who is best known for her appearance in August: Osage County, was reported missing by her family in October but her body was found in a ravine days later.
Her death had initially been thought to be caused by suicide, with police officers saying that they had received a number of calls from the actress’s home earlier that day. The actress had suffered from mental health issues and had stopped taking her medication shortly before her disappearance.
However, her family have since posted a lengthy statement online, claiming that Auburn Police Department did not help in the search for Missy and suggested that she may have fallen from the cliff while trying to run from the police.
“We would like to provide the following information to all of Misty’s friends and family. We believe that Misty’s death was accidental. She did not commit suicide.We believe she ran into the wooded area behind her apartment to hide from the police. The area in question has a hidden drop off and evidence suggests that she slipped and fell off of the steep embankment when she tried to get out of a view from the road. She simply did not see the drop off.
“Misty was afraid of the Auburn PD officers with good reason. In an incident prior to her disappearance, the Auburn PD came to pick up Misty on an involuntary transport to the ER. She was cuffed and placed in a police car. Some of the officers began to taunt and tease her while she was in the car. The family wants to make it clear the Auburn police did not help in the investigation or the finding of Misty at all. It was her uncle, Roberth Upham, who organized the search party that found Misty. The family is concerned that if the police had actually taken their concerns seriously within those first few hours of the report that perhaps she would have been found.”
