Caprice Fowler
Caprice Fowler, a 57-year-old woman from Lompoc, died on March 24, 2025, while held at the Northern Branch Jail in Santa Maria. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office says an autopsy found acute peritonitis from a ruptured gastric ulcer and calls the death tragic but unavoidable. A county grand jury, according to press reports, found missed opportunities to prevent it, including that she complained of abdominal pain two days before her death and that medical staff did not use an evidence-based process to document the severity of her pain. The grand jury's conclusions are reported in the press, and a separate administrative investigation was ongoing at the time of the reporting.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness (disputed; neglect alleged). The Sheriff's Office says an autopsy found a ruptured gastric ulcer and calls the death tragic but unavoidable, while a county grand jury says staff missed opportunities to prevent it and that medical staff did not document the severity of her pain.
Reported by: Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office (the agency that held her); Santa Barbara County grand jury (court).
News reports (4)
- Lompoc woman died in jail of natural causes, autopsy finds
- Grand Jury reports say sheriff’s office could have avoided jail deaths
- Coroner’s conflict: A new state law requires an independent autopsy of in-custody deaths
- Opinion |New law will stop sheriffs from medically examining deaths in their own jails