This week in PROBE
Q It’s been a while since I’ve heard any more news about the two recent deaths in Imperial. One was described as being “suspicious,” and the other as a homicide. Both were widely reported at the time and have since seemed to have dropped off the radar. Is there any new information to share? – Curious, Imperial
A The two deaths the Probe writer refers to were indeed notable for having attracted wide attention, and prompting the city to issue a press release in one case while hosting a press conference for the other.
On March 28, the city sent out a press release advising the media that its Police Department was investigating a “suspicious” death of a 61-year-old man in the 200 block of 10th Street.
When asked for comment about the investigation, the city manager’s office had no further information to provide. Records obtained from the Imperial County Coroner’s Office state that the death was determined to have been ruled a suicide. The press conference cited above resulted from the homicide of 36-year-old Yunique Puckett Dorame on Jan. 17. Firefighters responding to a residential fire in the 300 block of Chisolm Trail had found Dorame inside the home’s master bedroom. Her death was later determined to have resulted from “foul play,” officials had said at the time.
When asked, no new information was provided by the city regarding the Dorame case, and an ongoing investigation into her death prevents the Coroner’s Office from being able to release its autopsy, toxicology and coroner’s reports to the public.
We’ve left notice with the Coroner’s Office to be notified once the investigation is officially closed and the reports become available for review.
We would also be remiss if we didn’t remind the Probe writer that the city of Imperial, for two years running, has been deemed the safest in the nation.