Lawmaker Was With Woman Before She Died

The night before a Rocky Hill woman was found dead from hypothermia, she got into a fight with a patron at a tavern, left the bar with no shoes and hopped into a legislator’s car before running off, police said.

The next morning, her body was found by railroad tracks in Rocky Hill. She had no identification at the time and police were not sure who she was. Her death was ruled accidental. 

Rep. James O'Rourke, a Cromwell Democrat, told police he left O'Leary's Digger McDuff's Tavern around the same time as Carol Jean Sinisgalli, a 41-year-old state employee from Rocky Hill.

Sinisgalli was in an altercation earlier that night with a man in a wheelchair, the Hartford Courant reports, ran out to O'Rourke’s car, pulled open a back door and jumped in, O'Rourke said. She left her coat, shoes and purse at the bar. Her car was in the bar parking lot.

Lt. John Herbst said O'Rourke provided investigators with a written statement on Tuesday.

O'Rourke said Sinisgalli became belligerent and eventually jumped out of the car, running across the street in the frigid air.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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