American woman in hotel death fall consumed drugs, alcohol

American woman in hotel death fall consumed drugs, alcohol

SINGAPORE - A woman who fell to her death from the 60th floor of Swissotel The Stamford had consumed a potentially fatal combination of drugs and alcohol, the State Coroner said on Wednesday.

But Mr Imran Abdul Hamid also said that he could not ascertain if this had impaired her judgment and caused her to fall. He was announcing the findings of an inquiry into the death of Ms Cristina Oline Oudekderk, 39.

The American citizen, who was visiting Singapore for work, died of multiple injuries suffered after plunging onto the roof of the Starbucks outlet in Raffles City on May 27 last year. Her body was discovered at about 4am.

She was an operations and support manager for an energy company in the United States and had landed at Changi Airport at 12.14am that day.

Police investigators found two empty 375ml wine bottles and an assortment of psychotic drugs and sedatives in her room.

She was said to have been acting normally when she checked into the hotel at about 1am, and Coroner Imran concluded that she had consumed the drugs and alcohol in her room.

He said that it was unlikely she had stumbled or tripped over the balcony railing. He also said he believed that Ms Oudekderk had to exert some effort to get over the railing but as her medical history was not available, he was unable to determine her state of mind at the time.

Forensic pathologist Gilbert Lau had reported that Ms Oudekderk was "severely intoxicated".

He also noted that both Tramadol (an opioid analgesic) and Zolpidem (a sedative/hypnotic) were detected in potentially lethal concentrations.

He said: "It was entirely possible that the resulting drug-ethanol concentration could have severely impaired her judgment and predisposed her to fall."

 

khush@sph.com.sg


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