Homeless woman dies at Tarrant County Jail
A 38-year-old homeless woman died at the Tarrant County jail Saturday night, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s office.
The medical examiner’s website says Lupita Hernandez, 38, died at 9:43 p.m. in her jail cell at the Tarrant County Corrections Center, at 100 N. Lamar St., on Saturday.
But a spokesman for the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office said Hernandez died in the jail’s medical unit.
“She was under medical care when she passed away,” Terry Grisham said.
He didn’t say what she was being treated for, but that she was in a portion of the jail where sick inmates receive care from John Peter Smith Hospital medical professionals.
Grisham said there was no “obvious sign of trauma” to her body. Her cause and manner of death were still pending with the medical examiner.
Hernandez was in jail stemming from a criminal trespass charge Sept. 10, he said.
She was scheduled for an Oct. 26 court date, according to public records.
Hernandez’s address was listed as the Presbyterian Night Shelter at 2400 Cypress St. in Fort Worth.
“We are doing an investigation like we always do anytime we have a death in custody,” Grisham said. “We will send a report to the attorney general.”
Monica S. Nagy: 817-390-7792, @MonicaNagyFWST
This story was originally published October 18, 2015 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Homeless woman dies at Tarrant County Jail."