UPMC employee died of cyanide, how undetermined

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A University of Pittsburgh Medical Center employee found dead at work earlier this month was killed by cyanide poisoning.

But Allegheny County Medical Examiner Dr. Karl Williams tells The Associated Press that his office has yet to determine whether 34-year-old Nicole Kotchey’s death was a suicide, some kind of accident, or homicide.

Williams and UPMC spokeswoman Susan Manko say Pittsburgh police are still investigating the circumstance surrounding Kotchey’s death at Magee Womens Hospital of UPMC on Nov. 12.

Kotchey’s death came a week after another former UPMC medical researcher, Dr. Robert Ferrante, was convicted of first-degree murder in the April 2013 cyanide poisoning death of his wife, Dr. Autumn Klein. Klein was a neurologist also employed by UPMC.