Detectives feared a mother found dead at a friend’s house had been murdered.
Teresa Pilsworth actually died from an “extremely rare” condition in January this year, an inquest into her death has heard. Police initially feared the 38-year-old had been murdered after she was found collapsed on the floor at her friend’s home, Lancs Live reports.
Paramedics found her with facial injuries. After a Home Office autopsy, Teresa’s cause of death was determined to be thrombopulmonary embolism – with a coroner describing her death as “very unexpected”.
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An inquest at Preston Coroners Court heard the mother spent the evening of Friday, January 26, at a friend’s house in Maple Avenue, Morecambe. The following morning, Teresa was hungover and had failed to return home to King Street.
Teresa’s husband, Wayne, contacted his wife’s friend who explained that she was “fine” and resting on the couch. He told Wayne he would have Teresa home “as soon as possible.”
However, the following morning, Teresa’s friend called 999 after returning home from walking her dog and found her collapsed on the floor. Paramedics performed CPR, but Teresa was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators were called to the scene after paramedics found injuries to Teresa’s face. With police concerned that Teresa had been assaulted, a post-mortem examination was carried out by the Home Office, which revealed that the facial injuries had not in fact contributed to her death.
The examination, carried out by Dr Matthew Cieka, revealed that Teresa’s cause of death was a pulmonary embolism. This occurred when a blood clot – a deep vein thrombosis – travelled from Teresa’s leg to her lungs, causing her heart to stop beating.
The inquest heard that Teresa had also taken drugs, including cocaine and morphine, just before her death. The inquest heard that Teresa, who shared three teenage children with her husband Wayne, had recently gained weight and was also taking the oral contraceptive pill, both risk factors for deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
She had also been lying on the couch for a while on Saturday. However, Dr. Ceika says, there is often no cause and DVT is “extremely rare” in someone as young as Teresa.
Assistant coroner Richard Taylor said: “In my experience as a coroner, this is a very unusual cause of death. It was very unexpected to read this.”
Teresa’s husband Wayne expressed concern that his wife’s friend had “just left her dead on the sofa” for 24 hours before calling 999. However, the inquest heard that because paramedics had attempted advanced life support techniques, it was likely she had died shortly before they arrived.
Detective Inspector Dylan Hrynkow said that while the police investigation had ruled out any third-party involvement in Teresa’s death, officers were continuing to investigate the illegal drugs found at the property where she died. Returning a narrative conclusion, the coroner said: “Teresa Marie Pilsworth died on 28 January 2024, after suffering a thrombopulmonary embolism following drug ingestion and immobility.”
After Teresa’s death, Wayne described the love he shared with his wife as “unconditional” and added: “We were so close, my beautiful lioness, to fixing something you thought was beyond repair. They told me about natural causes, but there’s nothing natural about losing you.”
On a GoFundMe page set up after Teresa’s death, Alex Tordoff wrote: “At just 38 years old, Teresa, Wayne’s beloved wife, the pillar of their family, and loving mother to their children, has tragically and suddenly passed away. This unexpected loss has left Wayne and his children struggling with grief and an uncertain future.
“In the face of this profound tragedy, we are reaching out to our community for support. As Wayne deals with the overwhelming emotional and financial burdens of losing his partner and primary caregiver, we want to rally around him and his family to help ease their burden.”
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