When a coworker didn't show up at work on Monday, and the office received no response when they called the woman's home, a friend went to check on her. Peering in the window, she saw the woman, unresponsive, on the couch. Medics forced the front door open and discovered that the 43-year-old was dead. The medical examiner's office took custody of the body.

Unknown persons stole outgoing mail (including a Mastercard bill and an insurance payment) from the mailbox of a local resident. Someone then tried three times to make charges to the credit card. The thieves had better luck with the bank account, withdrawing approximately $1,300.

When confronted by a suspicious clerk, a juvenile shoplifter with a backpack full of stolen booty handed the woman the bag. He then ran from the store. Too bad that the backpack contained his student ID. Officers contacted the principal of his high school, who said the boy will be suspended.

In another shoplifting incident, a man in his 30s stole 35- 40 DVDs from a Junction-area store-apparently by stuffing them inside his jacket. The responding officer viewed the store's surveillance video and reports that at one point, the suspect "selected some movies and then ducked down a bit. When he came back into view he was a considerably larger person from the waist to his neck." The clerk got a good description of the escape vehicle, which is registered to a Puyallup address.

A female student at Denny Middle School became uncomfortable when a man in a maroon pickup truck with an off-white canopy followed her as she walked southbound on 30th SW Tuesday morning. The suspect appeared Hispanic, was dark haired, and had acne scars, a mustache, and a goatee.

The following is a synopsis of some of this week's domestic violence incidents, including the alleged reason for the assault and the method: Visitation rights (clubbing to the back of the head); phone calls from male friends (choking until short of breath); .angry ex-husband (hit in the face with a fist), ); dancing with another man (held down on a bed and slapped repeatedly in the face); ,drug issues (overturning household items; threats to slash the victim's throat while he slept), anger over misplaced items (victim slammed against a wall and hit repeatedly in the face).

Gas siphoners have made off with over $15 thousand worth of gasoline from vehicles in an unlocked local business yard.

Officers arrived in the 2600 block of 39th SW to a dispute between women in a rooming house. The two victims told the same story, along the lines of "She was pushing and yelling at me and calling me a crack head." Both admit to past and current drug use but adamantly deny being crack heads.

A woman called 911 requesting help for her daughter, who was walking around the neighborhood wearing only a towel. The towel-clad victim admitted that she had taken meth earlier in the day. Officers had her transported to Harborview for involuntary commitment.

Unknown persons poured paint all over a woman's Mercedes Benz near the Alki Playfield, causing approximately $4,500 worth of damage.

Burglaries by block:8800 4th S., 8400 25th SW, 8600 Delridge Way, 5400 35th (2), 4500 42nd SW, 9700 31st SW, 4000 Delridge Way, 6500 DelridgeWay, 7700 14th, 9400 4th.