Police: Embalmed head may be that of woman with heart ailment
ECONOMY – A western Pennsylvania police chief says a woman whose embalmed head was found in the woods more than a year ago may have died of a heart ailment.
Economy police Chief Michael O’Brien says FBI tests on the woman’s hair showed traces of drugs used to treat cardiac distress.
The head was found on Dec. 12, 2014, in Economy, about 15 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. But police have yet to determine who the woman is or why her head was severed from her body after it was embalmed.
Authorities performed a burial service for the head Saturday at Beaver Cemetery.
The chief says other tests suggest the woman may have moved around in the months before she died. He says, “Her identity is a priority of this investigation.”