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Orange County jail death under investigation

Margaret Dale Kersey was in a holding cell early Saturday morning when jail staff found her unresponsive, the Orange County Sheriff's Office said.

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HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — Authorities said Wednesday that the death of a 58-year-old woman who died last week while at the Orange County Jail is under investigation.

Margaret Dale Kersey was in a holding cell early Saturday morning when jail staff found her unresponsive, the Orange County Sheriff's Office said in a news release. Emergency workers were unable to revive her, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Her body was sent to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill for an autopsy.

Authorities said that deputies arrested Kersey after she had been drinking and causing a disturbance at her sister's home on Bethel Hickory Church Road, near Chapel Hill.

She had been in the holding cell for approximately 24 minutes while the arresting officer obtained a magistrate's order, authorities said.

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