Crescent, OK (near) Karen Silkwood Incident, Nov 1974

ACCIDENTAL DEATH IS FINDING OF PROBE.

Oklahoma City (AP) -- The state medical examiner said today the traffic death of KAREN SILKWOOD, a laboratory technician at a nuclear plant in Crescent, Okla., was an accident and not related in any way to radiation exposure.
Dr. A. J. Chapman also said the Highway Patrol has concluded that damage to the rear bumper of her car was caused by a wrecker which towed it away from where it crashed Nov. 13. He said there was no evidence any other auto was involved in the accident.
Dr. Chapman said he found MISS SILKWOOD was under the influence of "a sedative-hypnotic drug, methaqualone, associated with a trace of ethyl alcohol."
In a seven-point statement, the medical examiner said the cause of death was "multiple injuries," including multiple fractures.
He said extensive radiation studies were done at the time of the autopsy and are continuing at the Los Alamos, N.M., laboratory in cooperation with the medical examiner's office and the Atomic Energy Commission.
But he said "no trace of radioactivity was found at the autopsy."
Officials of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union had raised questions that her death in the car wreck might not have been accidental. They said the dent of the rear bumper could have been made by another car.

Albuquerque Tribune New Mexico 1974-11-25

(Transcriber's Note: There is very much written about this incident on the internet. I have read page after page. If you have interest, please read more about this "incident". I have trouble calling this an accident, but we have no category for incidents. It certainally still is very controversial, to say the very least. Stu)
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!