A pond is one of the features at Kaibara Park, an half-acre park in downtown Kent near the Kent Library. COURTESY PHOTO, City of Kent

A pond is one of the features at Kaibara Park, an half-acre park in downtown Kent near the Kent Library. COURTESY PHOTO, City of Kent

Woman found dead at downtown Kent park died of drug overdose

King County Medical Examiner’s Office rules Feb. 11 death an accident

A 48-year-old Renton woman found dead Feb. 11 at a small park in downtown Kent died of a drug overdose, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Joleen Marie Figuracion (Vance) died of acute drug intoxication, including fentanyl, according to the Feb. 13 report by the Medical Examiner’s Office, which ruled the death an accident.

Kent Police initially looked at the woman’s death at Kaibara Park, near First Avenue North and West Meeker Street, as a potential homicide because the woman had a significant injury to her head, according to a Feb. 11 Kent Police news release.

Officers responded at about 3:50 a.m. Feb. 11 to a possible overdose after a 911 caller reported he was walking through the park and noticed two people on the ground, according to police. When he checked on them, they did not respond so he went to a nearby business to have someone call 911. That witness returned to the small park, which is just east of the Kent Library, to help officers find the man and woman he had spotted.

Puget Sound Fire personnel provided lifesaving medical aid to the woman, but she was declared dead at the scene, according to police. A Renton man, 53, near the woman at the park, also had a head injury. He was breathing but unable to talk, according to police. Medics transported him to a local hospital.




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