Woman’s Carefully Scripted Suicide Prevents Id ‘She Could Have Taught The Fbi Tricks’

Weeks after a woman checked into a hotel and killed herself with a dose of cyanide, authorities still don’t know who she was.

“She did one of the most thorough jobs of obliterating her ID that I have ever seen in my career,” said M. Arly of the King County Medical Examiner’s Office. “She could have taught the FBI tricks.”

Arly and other investigators, who found the woman’s body in the bed of a downtown hotel room Oct. 11, hope someone will read about her and come forward to identify her.

Here’s what is known:

The woman was 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed about 240 pounds. She had brown eyes and light brown short hair. She was between 33 and 45 years old and had never borne children.

Her body was found along with a suicide note and a propped-up copy of a King James Bible at her head. It was open to the 23rd Psalm - the “Valley of Death” psalm.

The woman died of self-administered cyanide poisoning, an unusual means of death. Before killing herself, she destroyed all her identification.

The woman had even scraped the prescription number and label off a bottle of pills.

The woman appeared at the Hotel Vintage Park, 1100 Fifth Ave., Oct. 9 after calling 90 minutes earlier to reserve a room, Arly said.

She walked into the hotel. She paid cash for her hotel room at $149 a night for two nights. She signed the hotel register “Mary Anderson” - the same name she used on her final note. But “hesitation” marks suggest it was an alias, Arly said.

She listed a false New York City address and phone number, although the ZIP Code and telephone prefix were correct for the area.

The woman was not seen again by the hotel staff until her body was discovered. She did not use room service or the telephone.

Arly thinks she was from the Seattle area.

Her suicide note read: “I have decided to end my life. No one is responsible for my death. No one is responsible for my death.

“P.S. I have no relations. You can use my body as you choose.”

“That’s a clue that she did have someone, and she didn’t want them to know,” Arly said.

The woman had a suitcase, but it was not packed for a trip. Her clothing was in the middle- to high-price range. She was wearing bright colors and black velour. She used Estee Lauder cosmetics.

The investigator is hopeful that, with the holiday season, someone will realize the woman is missing.