A fatal car crash on Whidbey Island this week wasn’t discovered for an entire day, according to Island County Coroner Robert Bishop.

The State Patrol reports that 66-year-old Judith F. Sherman of Seattle was driving northbound in a 2000 BMW 323 convertible on Sills Road on South Whidbey, near Hugh Taylor Lane. She failed to negotiate a left-hand curve and went off the road on the right side.

Bishop said the car went down a 12-foot embankment and struck some trees. She died almost immediately from blunt-force injuries to the head and neck. She was not wearing a seat belt.

A jogger found the car accident with the woman’s body inside at 8:23 p.m., Tuesday, July 10. Bishop said investigators originally thought that the accident occurred shortly before it was discovered, but autopsy results and other evidence suggest otherwise.

“I’m confident that this happened Monday night,” Bishop said. He estimates the accident occurred at around 8 p.m., July 9.

According to Bishop, people driving by the scene of the accident may not have been able to see the car because it was down a steep embankment covered by nettles.

Toxicology results on Sherman are pending, but Bishop said investigators have no reason to suspect that alcohol was a factor in the accident.

Sherman lived in Seattle with her husband, Steven Sherman. Bishop said they have a summer home on Maxwelton, a beach-side community on South Whidbey. They have three grown children.