Crime & Safety

Coroner: Foul Play Not Suspected in Mill Valley Woman's Death on Mt. Tam

Assistant Chief Deputy Coroner Lt. Keith Boyd said the coroner's office will "continue exploring all avenues as the investigation moves forward."

By Bay City News Service:

The Marin County coroner's office said Monday foul play is not suspected at this time in the death of Marie Christine Sanner, the Mill Valley woman who was found dead on Mount Tamalpais on Thursday. 

Assistant Chief Deputy Coroner Lt. Keith Boyd said the coroner's office will "continue exploring all avenues as the investigation moves forward." 

The cause of Sanner's death is pending toxicology studies and "further investigative steps," Boyd said. 

Sanner, 50, was the second female hiker found dead in the same area of Mount Tamalpais within a week. Magdalena Glinkowski, 33, of Menlo Park, disappeared on March 30 and her body was found on April 12. 

Boyd said last week there is no apparent connection between the two deaths, and there were no signs of trauma on Glinkowski's body. 

Glinkowski left a note on March 30 stating she was going for a hike. Her car was found April 4 near the Pantoll Campground, and security camera footage showed her walking across the parking lot. 

A man who was trail running the day Glinkowski disappeared told the Marin County Sheriff's Office he saw Glinkowski's photo in the media and realized he might have seen her, the sheriff's office said. 

Search and Rescue teams then resumed the suspended search for Glinkowski and found her body on April 12 around 9:25 a.m. down a steep slope in a drainage area about a half-mile from the Bootjack parking lot where she was last seen, the sheriff's office said. 

Glinkowski worked as a software developer for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at Purple Encoding in the Bay Area, according to her LinkedIn profile. 

Sanner was hiking on Mount Tamalpais and was reported missing by her father around 2:30 p.m. Thursday. 

She was last seen near the Mountain Home Range Inn a mile east of the Pantoll Ranger Station, Marin County sheriff's Lt. Doug Pittman said. 

Her body was found at 5:30 p.m. Thursday along Fern Creek below and west of the Matt Davis Trail on Mount Tamalpais, Marin County coroner's office Lt. Keith Boyd said. 

Sanner taught kindergarten at Think College Now elementary school in Oakland for the past eight years. She was known as Ms. Marie, according to the school's website. 

She predominantly worked in the fourth and fifth grades and previously taught at Greenfield Elementary School in the Salinas Valley and at Hawthorne Elementary School for seven years, according to Think College Now's website. 

A memorial service for Sanner is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday at Mount Carmel Church in Mill Valley. Out of respect for privacy, Sanner's family has asked the media not to attend. 

Copyright © 2014 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.


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