The family of 29-year-old Christina Nance are demanding answers after she was found dead inside a police van parked outside the Huntsville Police Department’s headquarters in Alabama.
Nance’s body was discovered outside the Huntsville Public Safety Complex at around 9.15 a.m. on Thursday, according to local media. An officer who was walking to a police car found her body in an old, unused police van parked outside the building, authorities said.
An initial assessment by the Madison County Coroner’s Office found no visible signs of foul play or trauma, AL.com reported. Police said an autopsy and toxicology analysis would be conducted this week to determine the cause of death.
Nance’s sister, Whitney Nance, told WAFF that her family want to see surveillance footage. “We do not believe that our sister would just randomly walk to a van and climb in it. First of all, why wasn’t the van locked on police property?” she said.
She added that the family reported her sister missing about two weeks ago and had been searching for her. “She was in the van the entire time and nobody knew. Not even the police department knew,” she said.
Her family went to the police headquarters after her sister’s body was discovered asking to see surveillance footage, she said. They were told the investigator handling their case was out of the office.
Whitney Nance added that her sister had often visited the police department for help and called family members to pick her up from there on some occasions.
Her relatives also held a news conference on Sunday calling on authorities to release more information about her death.
“We really don’t know how our relative’s body was found inside a police van on police property and we need some justice,” Nance’s cousin Frank Matthews said at the conference. “We need some clarity and Christina cannot speak for herself.”
According to the station, Nance had been arrested for multiple non-violent offenses over the past eight years, the majority for disorderly conduct.
A GoFundMe page has been set up by Nance’s family to raise funds to help with funeral costs.
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