Countywide : Inmate Dies While Receiving Treatment

A Santa Paula woman serving six years in jail for sexually molesting five children and her pet dog died Tuesday while being treated for a leg infection in the infirmary at Ventura County Jail, officials said Wednesday.

Kristine Christensen, 39, probably died when a blood clot in one of her legs broke off and traveled to her lungs, said Coroner F. Warren Lovell. A final autopsy report is pending until microscopic studies of Christensen’s tissue are completed to confirm his findings, Lovell said.

“It looks like a natural death,” he said.

Christensen had been an inmate at the jail since Jan. 3 and was housed in the infirmary for various medical problems, said Sgt. William Flannigan, a jail spokesman. She had multiple sclerosis and was also suffering from cellulitis, an infection of the casings of the leg, Lovell said.

Jail nurses were treating Christensen for the infection about 8:30 p.m. when they noticed that she was having trouble breathing, Flannigan said. Within moments, she stopped breathing completely, he said. Efforts to revive her failed, and she was pronounced dead at Ventura County Medical Center at 9:48 p.m., Flannigan said.

“In the opinion of the medical staff, her medical problems were not severe enough to require hospitalization,” Flannigan said. “This was totally unexpected.”

Lovell said clotting deaths are fairly common in people with chronic illness.

Christensen pleaded guilty Oct. 11 to seven molestation counts and one count of sexually assaulting an animal. According to records in Ventura County Superior Court, Christensen pressured children who ranged in age from 13 to 17 to engage in sexual activity.