Warren County Coroner Paul Lowe is still awaiting word from the Georgia State Crime Laboratory as to the cause of death of Beth Newsome, a sixth grade teacher at Thomson Middle School.
Mr. Lowe said he checked with crime lab officials last Friday, but that a cause of Mrs. Newsome's death still had not been determined. After an autopsy failed to turn up any cause of death for the 58-year-old Glascock County resident, the coroner ordered that toxicology tests be performed.
"I was hoping to have heard something by now, but I'm still waiting," Coroner Lowe said. "Sometimes, these things just take a little time."
In many instances, tests of that nature normally take between 45 and 60 days to complete, according to Gary Nicholson, special agent in-charge of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Region 7 office in Thomson.
Mrs. Newsome, who was reported missing on Thanksgiving Day by her son-in-law, had taught school at Thomson Middle School since 1991. She was found dead a day later in a wooded area of Warren County by deer hunters.
