Lawrence police release name of woman who died at city-operated support camp

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The city-run campsite for people experiencing homelessness is pictured Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023, in North Lawrence.

The woman who died this week at the city-run support camp for people experiencing homelessness was 36-year-old Ashley Sawyer, of Lawrence, according to a news release from the Lawrence Police Department.

On Tuesday, police and fire and medical personnel were called to the scene just after 8 p.m. and found the woman unresponsive inside a tent, beyond life-saving measures, as the Journal-World previously reported. A release from police on Tuesday said investigators were on scene to determine whether there were any signs that a crime occurred, but that there were no immediate signs of foul play.

No further information was available on Thursday about the circumstances or possible cause of Sawyer’s death.

Two other people have died in the vicinity of the campsite since it opened, as the Journal-World has reported. A 53-year-old woman was found dead in her tent of a suspected alcohol-related illness and possible drug intoxication and hypothermia on Nov. 21, 2022, and a man at a nearby unsanctioned camp died on Dec. 30, 2022, of a combination of fentanyl, methamphetamine and kratom intoxication.

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