First Posted: 1/15/2009

LUMBERTON -- An autopsy shows that a Lumberton nurse who died on May 2 had been drinking heavily and had taken sleeping pills before killing herself by slashing her left arm.
The autopsy supports the theory of sheriff's detectives, who believe 45-year-old Lolly Sampson committed suicide. Sampson, who died at home at 109 Shamrock Drive in Lakewood Estates, near Robeson Community College, had worked as a care manager at Southeastern Regional Medical Center since 1992.
The county Sheriff's Office is still waiting to receive test results on blood taken from the home before it officially closes the case.
“We're still waiting on lab results from the State Bureau of Investigation,” said sheriff's Maj. Jimmy Maynor. “They're doing a toxicology test to see if blood found on the walls was the same type and consistency of her blood. We're having a lab to see if there are preservatives in the blood.”
Maynor said there was an “enormous” amount of blood inside the home. “It doesn't appear that all that blood could have come from her,” he said.
Maynor said he doesn't know when the SBI results will be available.
Autopsy findings
Dr. Richard D. Johnson, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy, said he believes Sampson's wounds were self-inflicted. In his comments, he noted that a knife was found in a bathtub with Sampson's body.
According to the autopsy, Sampson's blood-alcohol level was .20 -- 2 1/2 times the legal driving limit. The autopsy also showed traces of a sleeping pill called zolpidem, as well as ibuprofen and caffeine.
“There was abundant blood in various rooms of her house and several areas of vomit containing pill fragments,” Johnson wrote in the report.
The autopsy showed that Sampson died from a deep wound slightly below the elbow on her left forearm, an area that contains a tendon of the biceps, the median nerve and the brachial artery. Johnson's report describes the wound as “near circumferential” and that it penetrated “all soft tissues, including blood vessels, nerves, muscle and tendon.”
Sampson also had a “non-lethal stab wound” to the upper left abdomen and superficial wounds to her left wrist and right arm, just below the elbow, the autopsy showed.
Sampson had a history of depression, which required hospitalization shortly before her death, the autopsy said, attributing that information to the county Sheriff's Office.
Sampson's body was found after her sister went to her house after being unable to reach her at work or at home. A blood-smeared front door led investigators inside the house.