The body of a homeless woman was found under a tree Monday just south of the LaVell Edwards Stadium.
A pedestrian first thought the woman was asleep when he saw her about 8:30 a.m. Monday. When he came back around 1 p.m. and noticed she hadn’t moved, he contacted concessions employees and called the police, who confirmed she had died.
University Police Lt. Jeff Long said the woman, who has not been identified, had some health issues and was treated at a hospital in Salt Lake City prior to her death. The department is now working with a social worker in Salt Lake City to track down the woman’s next of kin. Long said he thinks the woman is from Arizona, and police are looking for her family through law enforcement there.
“It’s a little more challenging than we thought it would be to track down someone related to her,” Long said. “It’s a sad situation, dying alone in the cold.”
Long said the homeless population in Provo seems to be growing. Finding homeless people on the BYU campus is not uncommon during the winter.
“What will happen, especially when it gets cold, is that the homeless will come on to campus and look for somewhere warm to sleep,” Long said. “It’s not uncommon for us to get calls that someone’s sleeping on a couch or lying in a hallway.”
