Autopsy raises new questions about a woman at the center of a sheriff’s investigation

A woman in a Lemon Grove ditch who was allegedly ignored by a sheriff’s deputy later died from complications caused by chronic alcohol abuse, a damaged liver and an inflamed pancreas, according to an autopsy by the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Irma Perez Espinoza, a 43-year-old who appeared to have been living outside, was also suffering from hypothermia when she was finally taken to a hospital, records show.

Investigators ultimately ruled her death to be an accident.

The case has become part of a broader debate about how best to aid the region’s homeless population. A county supervisor recently invoked Espinoza’s death to justify building dozens of tiny homes for homeless residents in East County, an area that has historically had few shelter options. Yet the case is mainly notable because of the role purportedly played by law enforcement.

In July, a Lemon Grove resident named Richard Quinones said he spotted Espinoza in a drainage ditch near his home. Records from the San D...