Officials silent on jail death
Published by Delano Masseyon September 3, 2008

By Valarie Honeycutt Spears and Steve Lannen

vhoneycutt@herald-leader.com

Officials won’t say what happened at the Franklin County jail last month to cause the death of Ana Romero, a Salvadoran immigrant awaiting deportation.

Family members say that, shortly before her death Aug. 21, Romero was placed in isolation for refusing to eat. Mario Aguilar said Romero, his sister-in-law, had telephoned several times from the jail saying her stomach hurt and she was vomiting.

Matthew Pippin, a Louisville attorney representing the family of the 44-year-old woman, said an autopsy was performed more than 10 days ago, but a preliminary report has not been released.

“We are befuddled about not having preliminary autopsy results,â€