Former presidential candidate and Utah Senator Mitt Romney said his family is “heartbroken” after his sister-in-law was found dead from a five story fall in a Los Angeles parking garage. Her sudden death comes just months after his brother filed for divorce from her.
“Our family is heartbroken by the loss of Carrie, who brought warmth and love to all our lives,” Romney said in a statement on Monday. “We ask for privacy during this difficult time.”
Carrie Elizabeth Romney, 64, body was found by a passer-by next to a five-story parking garage at the Valencia Town Center shopping mall in California late Friday. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Carrie’s vehicle was found on one of the floors of the parking structure, which belongs to an apartment complex. Authorities said it remains “unknown at the moment” if she jumped or fell from the multi-story parking garage or a nearby building.
“We don’t know if it was suicide or accidental. There is not enough information to go by yet on what the coroner has given us so far,” a LA County Sheriff spokesman told The Daily Mail.
Vizcarra added that “foul play has not been ruled out, but as of right now, there is no evidence of it” and police are not treating the death as suspicious.
Instead, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office listed Carrie’s cause of death as “deferred,” indicating that further tests and investigation will be delayed. Her body was listed as “ready for release.”
Deferred cases can take several months before an exact cause of death is determined, according to the medical examiner’s office.
Investigators say they are working to obtain video footage from the area around the parking structure and adjacent mall.
For eight years, Carrie had been married to Romney’s older brother, George Scott Romney, who goes by Scott. The 84-year-old attorney is the father of former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel through his first marriage.
Scott separated from Carrie on May 25 and filed for divorce on June 10 after just over eight years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences.
Scott stated in the filing that most of the couple’s assets had been acquired individually before their marriage. Carrie was seeking spousal support, which Scott opposed. He requested that she return to her maiden name, Carrie Elizabeth Dimas.
Scott and Carrie were wed on November 26, 2016, but were never photographed in public together and kept their relationship private. Neither were active on social media, and Scott hasn’t been interviewed by a major media outlet since the 2012 presidential campaign.
Romney comes from a large family with three older siblings, including Scott. The Romney family is notoriously competitive. The Washington Post once profiled the family’s annual “highly orchestrated, highly competitive regimen of sports and games known as the ‘Romney Olympics,'” while on vacation in New Hampshire.
Romney mounted a presidential campaign against former President Barack Obama in 2012, gaining significant national support before ultimately losing the race. In 2008, he lost the Republican Primary before endorsing the eventual presidential runner-up, John McCain.
Romney served as governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and as the junior senator from Utah from 2018 to 2024. A longtime critic of the “Make America Great Again” movement, he retired instead of running for reelection. He was the only Republican to vote to convict President Donald Trump during both of his Democrat-run impeachment trials in 2020 and 2021.