Officials probe death of former Hill staffer Ashley Turton

[Emit]

Officials probe death of former Hill staffer Ashley Turton

A veteran congressional aide who worked most recently as a lobbyist and was married to a senior White House legislative affairs official was found dead in her car Monday behind the couple’s Capitol Hill home following a low-speed car crash and subsequent fire. Ashley Turton, whose husband, Dan, is the White House’s deputy director of legislative affairs for the U.S. House, died in the early-morning incident in the garage behind 800 A Street SE, friends, her employer and congressional leadership aides said. ...

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Ashley Turton worked as an aide to former Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) and then as chief of staff to Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.). She later became a lobbyist for Progress Energy, a North Carolina-based utility company. Dan Turton spent about 10 years as an aide to Gephardt before working for a few years as a lobbyist and then joining the House Rules Committee staff of Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.). He took the White House job when President Barack Obama came into office in 2009.

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Authorities have not determined the exact cause of the crash or why the car, a 2008 BMW X5 sport utility vehicle, caught fire in a low-speed crash. “The leading theory is accidental, the car crashed through the garage doors and…was found on fire in the garage area,” Piringer said, adding that the incident is under joint investigation by the fire and police departments. “There were some unusual circumstances – just the way the car was, low-speed, significant fire, things like that….For the most part, the fire was confined to the area of origin.”

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http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47367.html#ixzz1AegP1hCT

[Warpy]

1. MI? Aneurysm?

There are a lot of things that can result in sudden death, even as you're pulling into the driveway and ready to hit the automatic door opener button.

The real question is what caught fire in a "safe" luxury car.

[Arctic Dave]

2. Weird.

Hope this doesn't get lost in the shuffle.

[DCKit]

3. Not wierd, bizarre. Conspiracy theory material. nt

[hlthe2b]

4. Car fires after low speed crashes are just not common...

despite what Hollywood shows you all the time... This is very strange.

Very sad.