Former NY Times reporter Sarah Kershaw, 49, found dead in Dominican Republic

The Wrap
February 24, 2016 at 3:55PM
Former New York Times and Newsday reporter Sarah Kershaw is shown in a Facebook photo.
Former New York Times and Newsday reporter Sarah Kershaw is shown in a Facebook photo. (Randy Salas/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Former New York Times reporter Sarah Kershaw was found dead at her home in a northern beach town of the Dominican Republic, officials said Tuesday.

Kershaw, who has also written for Newsday, was a freelance journalist who moved to the Caribbean island with her husband, William Norton, in 2014.

The 49-year-old's body was discovered Monday in their apartment in Sosua. An initial police statement said she appeared to have died from asphyxiation, but the cause of death has not yet been established.

Norton was being questioned about her death, said Osvaldo Bonilla, a prosecutor for the province of Puerto Plata, according to the New York Times.

The autopsy is expected to take several days and authorities have not ruled out suicide or homicide.

"We are waiting for the final forensic report to determine the real cause of the death," Bonilla said.

Originally from Brookline, Massachusetts, Kershaw worked for the Times in 2000-2011. Norton is an editor and writer who has worked for a number of U.S. publications. According to his LinkedIn page, he had recently started a publishing company called W.P. Norton & Co.

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