She could have laid dead in the dark tunnel at Almaden's Jeffrey Fontana Park for four days, but nobody knows for sure. Nor does anyone know why Morgan Hill resident Melanie Fay McQuarrie's life ended nor what she was doing between Oct. 2, when she was last seen alive and Oct. 6 when her body was found in the shallow ditch.
And neighbors in this affluent area of San Jose are once again saying tragedy has hit their streets with the finding of McQuarrie, 27, close to the site where the late San Jose Police officer Jeffrey Fontana was shot and killed Oct. 28, 2001.
Two San Jose 11-year-old boys discovered the body about 6 p.m. Oct. 6 as they were playing in a tunnel under the Almaden Expressway, police said.
Scared by the decomposed body of the 2000 Live Oak High School graduate, they ran home to tell their parents, who called San Jose police, said Enrique Garcia, a spokesman with the San Jose Police Department.
San Jose police Detective Anthony Hattey said the boys had never seen a body before so they weren't sure what it was initially.
"Their (the boys') curiosity got the best of them, got pretty close and determined it was a dead body, got pretty scared, ran off and went home and called the police," Hattey said.
After police confirmed the boys' account, a representative with the Santa Clara County Coroner's office was called along with the San Jose police Crime Scene Unit and identified her by her keys and wallet, which were on the body.
"Since then we've been investigating how she ended up there and why," Hattey said.
Added Garcia: "We're trying to determine if there's any foul play involved in this incident … When we do a death investigation we try to determine if it was natural, accidental, suicide, homicide or medical. There are so many different variations of a death case … We want to make sure we look at all the possibilities to try to figure out what really happened."
Police are trying to piece together a timeline of where she was and what she did the four days after she disappeared.
One thing investigators are certain of, Garcia said, is that she had eaten dinner with a friend at the Fish Market Restaurant on Blossom Hill Road about 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, in San Jose.
McQuarrie most likely had contact with someone after last being seen and police are trying to locate that person or persons to learn something about her behavior, what she was doing in the area, what she said and what her plans were, Garcia said.
"We want to bring closure to the family," Garcia said.
According to police, McQuarrie had lived in San Jose but had moved to Morgan Hill "a couple of years ago."
Hattey said she had a history of mental illness that included at least one suicide attempt.
"We're looking at that as a probable cause, but until we completely recreate what happened in the 72 hours between the time she was found and the last person we've been able to find that saw her alive, we've got a gap there that we're trying to fill," Hattey said.
Hattey said police found her car which contained her personal belongings.
The Santa Clara County Coroner's Office confirmed it's performing an autopsy and results will be available in 10 to 12 weeks.
"The coroner was noncommittal. She could have died Friday, Oct. 3 or Saturday, Oct. 4," Hattey said.
McQuarrie was single, had no children, and didn't leave a suicide note, Hattey added.
Anyone with information about McQuarrie is encouraged to contact detective Hattey or detective Sgt. Paul Kelly at (408) 277-5283 or report any information anonymously by calling Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at (408) 947-STOP.
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