Southwest Iowa authorities say the woman who jumped from an Amtrak train late Monday evening was from France.
Montgomery County Sheriff Joe Sampson says 31-year-old Stephanie Carine Hatt of Savigny-sur-Orge, France was pronounced dead after being discovered lying along the north side of the railroad tracks in Stanton.
“She came to Washington, then Chicago and she was going west,” Sampson says. “I can only guess that she was going to California since she was on the California Zephyr.”
According to officials with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, the woman arrived in the US on October 31 and was apparently a tourist. She jumped off Amtrak’s westbound California Zephyr just about 10 ’til 10 Monday night.
“She’d been pacing up around, you know — moving from seat to seat; made the other passengers nervous,” Sampson said. “The conductor sat across from the seat with her for a little bit, telling her: ‘O.K., just stay calm. Stay quiet. We’re going to get there in an hour and a half. You can get off the train then,’ and he said she just jumped up and ran down the hallway and opened the door and jumped.”
The woman died from blunt force trauma to the head. While foul play has been ruled out, authorities say it’s still unclear why the woman jumped from the train. Toxicology reports are being conducted to determine if the woman was under the influence of drugs or medications.
(Reporting by Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic)