Heart disease caused April death of woman in Tarrant County Jail, examiner says
The death of a woman in custody of the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office in April was due to a coronary thrombus, or blood clot, due to atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Lizza Gadlin, 57, died April 19 after being arrested at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport four days earlier on charges of theft of property between $100 and $750. Court records show she was accused of stealing a suitcase. The custodial death report sent to the Texas Attorney General’s Office shows that she exhibited signs of mental health problems during her detention.
A coronary thrombus is a blood clot within a coronary artery. The blockage can cause a heart attack. Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is the hardening of the arteries due to the gradual buildup of plaque.
The Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gadlin had been housed at the Lon Evans Corrections Center at 600 W. Weatherford St., next to the main jail facility in downtown Fort Worth. She was transported to the John Peter Smith Hospital via ambulance on the day she died.
Her death is being investigated by the Parker County Sheriff’s Office, according to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. State law requires all jail custody deaths to be investigated by an outside law enforcement agency.
Parker County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Danie Huffman initially said the department was not investigating Gadlin’s death and that the department has no records pertaining to it.
A report available on the jail commission’s website says it appointed the Parker County Sheriff’s Office on April 21.
Responding to follow-up questions after publication, the spokesperson said she was unable to find Gadlin’s investigation in the department’s electronic filing system because the investigating officer, who was out of the office, had not entered it into the system yet.
“I was unable to locate those on Gadlin, but apparently it’s on his desk,” she said. “He just hasn’t entered it in the system.”
After publication, a program specialist with the jail commission sent the Star-Telegram emails showing that the Parker County Sheriff’s Office was notified of its appointment as independent investigating agency on April 21.
Jail custody deaths are also investigated and/or reviewed by Tarrant County Jail staff, the Sheriff’s Office’s Criminal Investigations Division, JPS medical staff, the Texas Attorney General’s Office and the jail standards commission.
Gadlin’s was one of 71 deaths in the Tarrant County Jail since Sheriff Bill Waybourn took office in January 2017.
This story was originally published August 21, 2025 at 12:52 PM.
