It’s been nearly five months since a Salt Lake City woman was found drowned in the bathtub at her home, but police are still trying to determine if her death was a homicide or suicide.
Uta von Schwedler, 49, was found dead in her Sugar House area home, in the 1400 block of Harrison Avenue (1365 South), on Sept. 27, 2011. Since then, police have quietly been investigating what they call the "suspicious" death of the biologist and HIV researcher who worked at the University of Utah.
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Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank said Tuesday that von Schwedler’s case remains open and active.
"We have a suspicious death, we are looking for what potentially caused that or who potentially caused that," Burbank said.
Burbank said police have interviewed anyone who may have had a connection to the case, including the woman’s immediate family and her boyfriend and divorced husband.
Burbank said evidence from the scene remains inconclusive. Police have no suspects or persons of interest, but they aren’t ruling anything out. They have even involved the FBI to get their perspective.
The medical examiner’s office could not determine if von Schwedler’s death was a homicide or suicide, but said the cause of death was drowning.
The woman was found in a bathtub full of water.
A knife was found under the body, and there was blood in her bedroom, at the edge of the bathroom sink and on a window sill, the autopsy report states.
The medical examiner noted sharp force injuries to the woman’s left wrist and left leg "which are not typical of self-inflicted wounds seen in the setting of a suicide." The report said the wounds could be viewed as defensive injuries if the woman had been struggling with an assailant.
Hemorrhages on the left side of the woman’s neck could have come from "blunt injury ... during a fall, but could also be the result of applied force in the course of an assault," the report states.
Toxicology tests showed a high-level of Xanax in von Schwedler’s system, but she did not have a prescription for the anti-anxiety drug.
von Schwedler was discovered by her boyfriend, Nils Abramson, who called 911 after finding her in a tub overflowing with cold water.
"It is a murder, there is no doubt in my mind. I know she didn’t commit suicide," Abramson said recently, noting that von Schwedler loved to bike and be outdoors and never had mental health problems.
"I want to think [police] are doing a good job, but I do have my hesitations and my questions," Abramson said.
Abramson said he went to von Schwedler’s home in the evening after she didn’t respond to his text messages all day. When he got there, he noticed the garbage can and newspaper were still in the driveway, and the bathroom light was on while everything else was dark.
Abramson also said there appeared to have been "somewhat of a struggle" inside the house.
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