Daughter's death remains a mystery 

16/Aug/00

By T.S. Mills-Faraudo
STAFF WRITER

San Carlos residents George and Jane Dalition will stop at nothing until they know what caused the death of their 37-year-old daughter who they said was in perfect health during the prime of her life.

On Feb. 11, Fresno resident Linda Adanalian, a mother of four who grew up in San Carlos and went to schools in the area, collapsed on the steps of the church she was married in after she took her children to an ice show at Selland Arena. Witnesses told Adanalian's father that she was completely alert until she died hours later in Fresno Community Hospital.

Her body was exhumed in June for a second autopsy and to allow the coroner's office to obtain additional specimens.

The Fresno Coronor's Office has concluded that the cause of her death had nothing to do with her heart, George Dalition said. More tests are being performed on her heart at Stanford Medical Center, he said.

"She didn't die of natural causes," Dalition said. "We have to know the truth. We have to know how she died."

The day Adanalian died, she had complained that morning that she had an upset stomach, diarrhea and was feeling weak, he said.

Preliminary conclusions at the hospital were that she died of a heart attack or blood clot. But both the first and second autopsies showed nothing wrong with her heart and no blood clot.

"She was in perfect health. She had low cholesterol, low blood pressure and her lungs had no plaque on them," Dalition said.

There were rumors that her husband, Mark Adanalian, may have had something to do with her death, according to The Fresno Bee.

He has been interviewed by police, though there is no criminal investigation under way, according to The Bee.

Independent toxicology tests -- some through the Mayo Clinic and others through the Mineral King Laboratory that performs tests for the Fresno County Coroner's Office -- show there were no signs of prescription drugs or toxins that may have led to her death. Further testing is ongoing.

"I'm releasing these test results to dispel the rumors and innuendo that Mark Adanalian had anything to do with the death of his wife," Adanalian's attorney, Warren Paboojah, told The Bee.

"Ever since the body was exhumed, people have been talking about Mark having something to do with his wife's death," Paboojah said.

Adanalian told The Bee he believes his wife died of a cardiac disorder.

Mayo Clinic pathologist, Dr. Eric Pfeiffer, who Dalition said took an interest in the mystery of his daughter's death, said he doesn't believe her death is heart-related.

Dalition said once Pfeiffer has more direction, he'll be able to perform more tests that may determine how Adanalian died.

"There are over a thousand tests that can be performed to see what kind of chemicals may have been in her body," Dalition said. "If we can find some clues, he'll (Pfeiffer) know what direction to go."

Fresno County Coroner David Hadden told The Bee that tests for several hundred different prescription drugs and toxic compounds have returned negative.

Adanalian's brother, David Dalition, is hopeful that more tests will give them answers.

"I don't know if it will be anytime soon, but we have the patience and staying-power to see this through to the end," he said.