Killer Headache

What happened?

The Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department is investigating the unexplained death of Diane Coates, 47.

On Friday evening, Mrs. Coates suddenly collapsed during a reception for the Barksdale Literature Conference.

EMTs transported her to the local hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival.

Mrs. Coates was the special events assistant for the Division of Outreach and Continuing Education at the University of Mississippi.

Help investigate the case

Killer Headache case documents are presented in chronological order in the Case Files.

• Click the Evidence, Interview, Biography, or Press tag at the top of the Case Files page to filter by document type.
• Click the Day tags at the top of the Case Files page to filter case documents by the day they happened in the investigation.

Want more info? Check out the Crime Scene FAQ

Where do you start?

If this is your first look at the investigation, you may want to start with the Case Recap or one of these case documents:

• Press coverage of the death
• YCSD incident report
• Biography of the victim, Diane Coates
• Canvass of witnesses at the scene
• Interview with the victim's boss
• Interview with the victim's husband

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