Visitor Succumbs To Hypothermia Following Fall

Presidio fire and EMS personnel responded to a report of a woman in distress on Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands just after 7 a.m. on Sunday, January 4th. A park maintenance worker who was emptying trash receptacles found a partially-clothed woman lying in the sand, beckoning for help. Paramedics began providing care when she went to cardiac arrest, and she was taken by ambulance to San Francisco General Hospital. Protection rangers were summoned to the scene because circumstances suggested that a crime may have been committed. The woman subsequently died, probably as a result of severe hypothermia due to temperatures in the 30s. An investigation was conducted by USPP detectives and the medical examiner’s office. The victim was identified as Jill Ederra, 71, a retired nurse who lived alone in El Cerrito. She’d been seen leaving her rented home there on Saturday afternoon. Investigation revealed that she likely fell from the top of a nearby hill that evening, was injured, then suffered from exposure during the night.