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Team coverageThe Utah Highway Patrol have identified the woman that was struck and killed on I-80 last night as 34-year-old Heather Schmitt.
Troopers say they got calls from several people concerned that someone was jumping in and out of traffic. Now they have reason to believe she was trying to commit suicide.
Schmitt had a history with the UHP. They say she's tried to do this before but had gotten away with it. This time, Schmitt didn't make it out alive.
After several calls from concerned drivers on I-80, troopers tried to find the person reportedly jumping in and out of traffic. By the time they found her, around 11 p.m., she was dead. She had no ID on her.
Sgt. Rudy Taylor, with the Utah Highway Patrol said, "We did find in her pocket a small piece of paper with a name and a number on it. From that, we were able to determine what her identity was, who she was and where she lived.
UHP troopers believe this to be a suicide ... something Schmitt tried before. "We had some history with Heather," Taylor said. "She had attempted getting in and out of traffic on various occasions."
When troopers notified family members, they informed them that Schmitt wasn't well. "She was battling with some mental illness, and she was not taking her medication," Taylor said.
Family also told investigators that Schmitt told them her intentions of suicide before she left their home. Troopers say family members were unable to stop her. Taylor said, "This was a family struggling in many ways, economically ... and there may be some mental illness in the family as well. They're struggling in ways where they may have been unable to help."
Now, investigators want to find the driver who hit her and never stopped to help. Troopers suspect a larger SUV or possibly a semi truck hit Schmitt. Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Trooper Cameron Roden said, "One thing that were thinking, that it possibly could have been, is a semi, something that would hold up to a sturdy hit, where as a car or an SUV would have had something broken off like a headlight, or anything like that could have broken out."
If you have any more information, you are asked to call the Utah Highway Patrol at 887-3800.
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