No trauma found on body of Kansas mother who had wondered about carbon monoxide

No traumatic injuries were found on the body of a 45-year-old Clearwater, Kansas, mother who was found dead inside her home Thursday, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office said Friday.

Police were called at 10:21 a.m. Thursday to the 300 block of South Tracy after her live-in boyfriend found Melina Hinkle dead, according to sheriff’s office spokesperson Branden Stitt.

“Detectives are waiting for toxicology from the Regional Forensics Science Center and until then, we don’t have confirmation on the cause of death,” he said in an email. “Because the coroner has confirmed that it wasn’t because of a traumatic injury, we must wait for those results, which can take weeks.”

He said there is “no indication of a public safety concern.”

At 6:35 p.m. Wednesday, Hinkle, who has the last name Smith online, posted on social media that she thought she had a seizure that morning after feeling “confused and weak.” She said that a couple hours after that, her partner had a seizure and she had to call 911.

“I need to have the house checked for carbon monoxide,” she wrote.

Someone commented that she should leave the home. She replied in the comments that “we’re calling the fire department in the morning and opening windows tonight.”

Hinkle was the mother of “two loving children,” according to a GoFundMe set up to help with costs related to her funeral. The fundraiser can be found at shorturl.at/Bf12a.

This story was originally published November 15, 2024 at 6:10 PM.