YOUNGSTOWN - A syringe lay on the floor next to the body of a woman found in the restroom at Taco Bell restaurant near the Youngstown State University campus.
Police were called to the Fifth Avenue restaurant at 1:28 p.m. and found the body of the woman, later identified as Cassandra "Cassie" Marie Alderman, 22, of Irondale.
Alderman still had an outstanding warrant on a previous charge stemming from trespass and drug usage in another Fifth Avenue fast-food restaurant.
A Youngstown Police report from Thursday said the woman was found ''clearly deceased'' sitting on the toilet, with her pants up but with her t-shirt removed. A syringe was found on the floor next to her, and officers reported she appeared as though she had recently ''shot up'' drugs.
Officers were able to identify Alderman through prescription bottles in her purse bearing her name and a Law Enforcement Agencies Data System photo that confirmed her ID.
Police said Alderman had been arrested in February 2011 on charges of criminal trespass at the McDonald's restaurant on Fifth Avenue, when she had been accused of using shooting drugs in the restroom. She failed to appear in court on that charge and still had a warrant from Mahoning County Court for that incident.
Taco Bell employees declined to comment and media representatives for the company could not be reached Thursday evening.
Police and the Mahoning County Coroner's office are investigating.