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The coroner's office has ruled the death of LAPD detective Nadine Hernandez to be a suicide, reports the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Hernandez was an investigator on the rape case involving NBA star Derrick Rose.
Ed Winter, assistant chief of operations and investigations for the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner, said that an autopsy was performed on Wednesday, but a full autopsy report has not yet been finished.
Hernandez was found in a Whittier home on Tuesday afternoon when authorities responded to a report of a suicide attempt. They found her with a gunshot wound to her chest and transported her to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead at around 3:30 p.m.
According to CNN, Whittier police said that it was a family member who'd called 911 to alert authorities of the suicide attempt. They also said that a firearm was found at the scene, though they did not say if it was her service revolver.
She had worked in the LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division for 19 years.
Hernandez's death sparked off some idle speculation in some corners of the internet, as she was one of two detectives working on a case related to rape allegations made against NBA star Derrick Rose. The alleged victim is suing Rose, and when a judge had ordered that she reveal her identity during court proceedings—she'd been using the pseudonym "Jane Doe"—Hernandez had penned a letter to the woman's lawyer, saying that she—Hernandez—supported the victim's desire to remain anonymous.
But, as noted at the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, police "dismissed talk that someone killed the detective as rumors," adding that they said that they'd found evidence at the scene that suggested a suicide.
