DEATH OF SAILOR/MOM FOUND IN BURNING VEHICLE IN SANTEE RULED SUICIDE
By Miriam Raftery
Photo: Facebook
May 11, 2017 (Santee) — Santee resident Andrea Daves, 33, seemed to have everything to live for. A married Navy sailor with children ages 2 and 3, she was on maternity leave when her body was found in a burning vehicle on Mast Boulevard in Santee back in February. But now her death has been determined to be a suicide; cause of death was thermal burns, according to a press release issued by Lt. Kenneth Nelson with the Sheriff’s Homicide Unit.
Nelson indicated the investigation is concluded, in the press release. A call to Nelson asking how the department determined the death to be a suicide, rather than a homicide, has not been returned and a staffer indicated he is on vacation.
Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Daves had studied health care administration, according to her Facebook page.
Her mother, Pamela Johnson, told 10 News in February that her daughter loved serving in the Navy and was a good person. Johnson believed her daughter had been killed by someone else. She pledged to tell her grandchildren stories about their mother, since they will be growing up without memories of her.
"She was my daughter, my baby, my only child,” Daves’ mother lamented.