After a young woman died near San Francisco General Hospital, police say they are investigating her death as "suspicious."
Police say that the body of 23-year-old San Francisco resident Melanie Oliveri was found at 6:50 a.m. Sunday on the 1300 block of Utah Street, which is between 24th and 25th Streets in the Mission District.
A spokesperson from the San Francisco Medical Examiner's office said she was found with "injuries" but did not elaborate. They believe she died at the scene, the spokesperson said.
At present, a police spokesperson says, her death is considered "suspicious in nature."
Though police are stopping short of calling her death a homicide at this time, Bay City News reports that "a 27-year-old man is suspected in connection with her death." However, no arrests have been made at publication time.
If it is determined that Oliveri was indeed murdered, her death would be San Francisco's 31st homicide for 2015, following Thursday's blunt force slaying of Sheldon Smith.
Update: Mission Local reports that Oliveri died of an "apparent drug overdose" at the Utah Hotel, an SRO at 24th and Utah.
Witnesses and friends of the victim at the Utah Hotel said this morning that 27-year-old John Bird woke up around 6:30 a.m. on Sunday to find Olivieri unconscious on the floor of his room.In an attempt to revive her, friends said, Bird injected her with Narcan, a drug commonly used to quell opiate overdoses. When that failed, friends said that he dragged her down the hall to the bathroom, where he tried to revive her in the shower with cold water.
Olivieri failed to react, and Bird called the police, friends said.
One of victim’s friends, who asked that his name not be used, said that Olivieri and Bird were in an on-and-off romantic relationship. The night before her death, Olivieri had shown up to Bird’s residence, intoxicated, he said.
According to Mission Local, Bird was detained by police but has since been released.
Previously: With Thursday Death, SF Is On Track For Its Highest Homicide Rate In Years
