The death of a lobbyist whose body was found in a burning car last month was accidental, according to the D.C. Medical Examiner's Office.
Ashley Turton, 37, died of inhalation of products of combustion and thermal burns when her BMW SUV crashed and caught fire in her garage in the 800 block of A Street SE on Jan. 10, according to the medical examiner. Acute alcohol intoxication contributed to her death.
That morning, firefighters responded to a report of a fire inside a residential garage. After they extinguished the fire in the SUV, which was stopped partially inside the garage, firefighters found Turton's body.
Turton apparently had been pulling out of the garage, but as she maneuvered to get around a car in the driveway, she had to pull back in to the garage and apparently struck something that caused the fire. BMW is cooperating in the investigation into the fire.
Turton was a lobbyist for Progress Energy Inc. She was leaving early for work that morning because her company was announcing a merger with another.
Her husband, Daniel Turton, is the White House deputy director of legislative affairs for the U.S. House.
The couple had three children.
