Resort calls death a suicide; CdA police continue investigation

A Louisiana woman visiting the Coeur d’Alene Resort fell 12 stories to her death early Thursday in what the incident’s only witness, the victim’s boyfriend, told police was a suicide but detectives say is still under investigation. Lynea M. Sprung Hambrice, 36, of Baton Rouge, checked into the luxury resort at Lake Coeur d’Alene with her 38-year-old boyfriend Wednesday afternoon, said Bill Reagan, the resort’s general manager. Hambrice, the coordinator of graduate student services at Louisiana State University School of Music, was scheduled to stay four nights and planned to attend her boyfriend’s 20th high school reunion in Kellogg this weekend, according to the Coeur d’Alene Police Department. She was declared dead after plummeting to a deck on the main floor of the resort about 12:30 a.m. Police say the couple had been drinking. The balcony rails, installed when the Resort was built in 1986, are 3 1/2 feet high. Reagan said the death “appeared at this point to be a suicide,” but Coeur d’Alene police Sgt. Christie Wood said investigating officers have yet to reach a final determination. The resort was full Wednesday night, but Reagan said he hadn’t heard guests complain of a dispute. A resort employee went to the room after the Hambrice’s boyfriend called asking for help, Reagan said. The employee found him on the phone with 911 “regarding a possible suicide,” Reagan said. Reagan, manager since 1988, said the only other guest suicide at the resort occurred about 20 years ago. “Our sympathy goes out to her and her family, and to him. What a terrible thing to have happen,” Reagan said. Police were interviewing neighboring guests and other possible witnesses and didn’t expect to release more information until after an autopsy, Wood said. Hambrice was introduced as a new fourth-grade teacher in the September 2007 edition of the Louisiana State University Laboratory School newsletter. She was described as a mother of two daughters who had seven years experience teaching elementary school. She earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree from LSU, according to the newsletter.