Woman's death in Longboat Key sauna ruled a suicide

The death of a woman whose body was found in a sauna nearly three months ago on Longboat Key has been ruled a suicide, police said Thursday.

The body of Lori Martin, 54, was discovered Jan. 23 on the property of the Harbourside Moorings clubhouse. Since then, police have said they are investigating the death as a homicide but held open the possibility of a suicide determination. Police have waited months for the results of forensic tests, along with toxicology and DNA tests.

Police Chief Pete Cumming said Friday that law enforcement analyzed the "totality of the evidence" to come to this decision, relying on forensic, medical and legal interpretations of what police found at the scene three months ago. 

"By the time we had all the evidence in, our independent investigation supported the medical finding and the forensic analysis," Cumming said. "Everything supported and ran parallel to the other portions of this investigation."

Blood was found at the scene, prompting police to “essentially dismantle” most of the sauna, sending panels to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office for forensic inspection.

A security video reviewed by police from the day of Martin's death shows the woman leaving a boat at the Moorings around 11 a.m. and not returning, Police Chief Pete Cumming said earlier this year.

Someone staying at the Moorings discovered her body about six hours later, Cumming said. Police estimate Martin died between noon and 2 p.m.

"There is no indication that there was any other human being involved in the death, in the manner of death or in the vicinity of the death," Cumming said. "It was a scene that was really quite in its own way pristine."

In an interview with the Observer in February, stepson Stephen Martin said that his stepmother showed no signs of depression, was never treated for a mental illness and “very lightly used alcohol.”

“She was a wonderful, wonderful person,” he said. “Energetic, healthy, just very caring and very loving and so focused on other people. She just was constantly focused on other people and just making sure they were doing OK.”

Updated Friday, April 20 at 11:20 a.m.