SEASIDE -- Seaside Police have identified the elderly woman found dead in her car in the parking lot of the Veterans Affairs Clinic on Thursday morning.
Officers said 81-year-old Dolores Gomez of Seaside, also known as Lola, was found slumped over in the front seat of her car.
Her death comes four days after police said she voluntarily took off after a family fight, leaving her husband of 57 years behind.
"She had called the police department saying that she was willing to leave her family," said Louis Lumpkin, deputy chief for the Seaside Police Department.
Police said Gomez took off on Sunday after a fight with her family, telling police dispatch it was her choice to leave and she clearly knew what she was doing.
Two days later, Tuesday, her family reported her missing.
Another reason why police are investigating this so seriously is because the person who reported her dead was a family member who happened to be at the clinic for an appointment.
Gomez's daughter and husband told Central Coast News they found her when they pulled up to Mr. Gomez's appointment.
Neither wanted to go on camera but her daughter told me she never thought a fight would end up with her 81-year-old mother dead.
"It appeared that she had been deceased for a while," Lumpkin said. "Until we can prove that it was natural or unnatural, we're going to take it as suspicious."
Gomez's family said she normally didn't come to the clinic for appointments.
The Monterey County Coroner's office is investigating how she died.
Investigators have little but that family fight to go on.
