Alcohol Linked to Arizona Sunbather’s Death

A sunbather who died after lying unconscious for hours in the desert heat had been drinking, authorities said Friday.

Judi Lynne Aron, 37, died Thursday at Tucson Medical Center, about 12 hours after other sunbathers around an apartment swimming pool noticed her and summoned help.

Tucson Police spokesman Sgt. Roberto Villasenor said Aron had been drinking alcohol and died of extreme body heat “in conjunction with acute ethanol intoxication.”

Villasenor said: “Basically, she drank a lot and cooked to death.”

Capt. John Karolzak of Rural Metro Fire Department said paramedics were summoned Wednesday afternoon to the Ventana Vista Apartments after people around the pool determined that Aron was unconscious.

“She was very hot and red,” Karolzak said. “She had been lying on her back and had second-degree burns over the front of her body.”

Paramedics wrapped the woman in cold towels and took her to Tucson Medical Center.

Hospital spokesman Tom Reavis said Aron “was severely burned and had a temperature of 107 degrees,” which matched the high temperature in Tucson on Wednesday.

Reavis said the woman was packed in ice but that she never regained consciousness.

“It’s one of the most severe sunburn cases the staff had ever seen,” Reavis said. He refused to release the woman’s blood-alcohol level.