Body found in carpool lane on I-5

A woman whose body was found in the car-pool lane of Interstate 5 in South Seattle Thursday likely was a transient, but state troopers aren't sure how she wound up dead on the freeway.

About 1:30 a.m., a motorist struck the woman's body — apparently already lying on the roadway — in the southbound HOV lane near the Holgate Street exit, State Patrol Sgt. Keith Trowbridge said.

"Someone was driving, they hit something, and when they went to look they found a body," Trowbridge said.

"It does appear the body was run over," he added. "It could be the cause of death, but [investigators] don't think it was."

Troopers found the woman's pants, which contained a homeless-shelter ID card, across the freeway in the northbound lanes. Investigators have yet to formally release her name and don't have an age for her, Trowbridge said.

The stretch of freeway where the body was found is near an overpass that leads to "The Jungle," a densely wooded area along I-5 where homeless people are known to camp, Trowbridge said.

"There is an overpass near there," Trowbridge said. "We don't know if she jumped, got pushed, got ran over. We just don't know."

Lewis Kamb: 206-464-2341 or lkamb@seattletimes.com