Bandelier IDs visitor killed by falling tree

LOS ALAMOS — Authorities at New Mexico’s Bandelier National Monument have identified the female park visitor killed by a tree earlier this month.

The Los Alamos Monitor reports Bandelier National Monument Superintendent Jason Lott said 81-year-old Beverly Modlin of Wheeling, Ill., was fatally struck by the falling tree while visiting the park.

Officials said Modlin was returning to her car in the Frey Trailhead parking lot when a live ponderosa pine reportedly snapped in half.

An obituary in the Chicago Suburban Daily Herald said Modlin was with her children Susan Hines and Robert Modlin when the accident occurred.

Bandelier National Monument officials reported that a woman had been killed, but did not identify her. Lott did not say why park officials initially withheld the information.