Police: Dead Woman Found in Fargo Parking Lot “Had Been There For a Few Months”

Police expect to have an ID on the woman by Thursday

UPDATE: Fargo Police identify the woman found in the Cash Wise parking lot on 33rd Street South Wednesday as 65-year-old Barbara Anne Barry and say she was “believed to be deceased for a few months.”

Authorities do not suspect foul play.

They believe Barry is homeless and was not reported as a missing person.

The incident remains under investigation.

FARGO, N.D. — A dead woman has been found inside a parked car at a Cash Wise parking lot in Fargo.

Although police are still investigating the cause of death, they’ve already ruled out some factors.

Around noon, Fargo police were dispatched to this Cash Wise parking lot on 13th Avenue. A passerby called them after she went up to a Buick in the northeast corner of the lot. She found a dead woman in her 60’s inside.

“She had actually saw a media story about the dangers of extreme cold and people in cars, car stops where they get stuck in the snow and she just happened to look in. If you drove by this car, you wouldn’t notice there was a person in there unless you went real close and looked in so it’s easy why people didn’t call it in before,” said Sgt. Jim Kringlie, with the Fargo Police Department.

The woman was found in the back seat of the Buick. Police won’t say whether the car was locked or not.
But Sgt. Kringlie says police don’t believe the elderly woman died due to the frigid temperatures we’ve been feeling this week.

“Well the severe, cold weather is within the past two days when they shut down the schools. We believe the person passed away prior to that. Exact time, the coroner would have to determine that but just preliminary and looking at it, it doesn’t look like it occurred within the last week,” Kringlie said.

A Cash Wise employee who did not want to be on-camera tells KVRR they suspected a person had been living out of their car after seeing it in the parking lot for more than a month. Although police say the weather played a role in the woman’s death, it did keep them from doing their investigation outside.

“We actually moved the car with the person to the coroner’s garage due to the extreme cold. It was better to do the investigation there,” Kringlie said.

Sgt. Kringlie also says this is a good time to remind people to be extra careful when they go outside.

“Even though this person appears not to have passed away during the extreme cold, we want to caution people, due to the cold weather, use all precautions if their car gels up or freezes up or they get stuck in the snow, call immediately because it doesn’t take long when it’s 25 below to have severe health issues or possible deaths,” Kringlie said.

Kringlie says there are no signs of foul play at this time and he expects to get an ID on the woman tomorrow.

Cash Wise officials say they are assisting police in the investigation.