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Woman Died In Police Custody From 'Natural' Causes, Bucks Coroner Says

The 48-year-old Philadelphia woman who died at the Bucks County Correctional Facility last month passed from "natural" causes, officials have announced. 

Melissia Mager of Philadelphia

Melissia Mager of Philadelphia

Photo Credit: Facebook/Melissia Mager

Melissia Mager of Frankford Avenue died of a perforated duodenal ulcer at a Doylestown Hospital emergency room on March 1, and her autopsy "showed no evidence of external trauma or foul play," said county Coroner Meredith Buck in a statement. 

Mager was taken into custody on a bench warrant by Bristol Township police late on Feb. 24, the department has previously said. 

She was booked at the Bucks jail the following day and remained there until March 1, when she was "observed (...) to be in distress," the coroner said. 

"I would like to extend my deepest condolences to the Mager family on their loss," Buck wrote. "The Coroner’s Office takes any in-custody death very seriously and does an independent investigation to determine the cause and manner of death."

"Bowel perforation is a serious complication of peptic ulcer disease and, as in this case, can be fatal," she added. 

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