Fatal train leap remains a mystery

STANTON — A French woman was killed Monday night when she jumped off a moving Amtrak train passing through Stanton.

Stephanie Hatt, 31, of Savigny sur Orge, France was pronounced dead after being discovered north of the train tracks near James and Broad Streets in Stanton. She was killed on impact due to blunt force to the head after jumping from the 79-mile an hour train.

Hatt, who entered the country in Washington D.C. Oct. 30 as a tourist, had been traveling from Chicago to Omaha on the westbound California Zephyr train when she became agitated, according to Montgomery County Sheriff Joe Sampson.

“She was nervous on the train, moving from seat to seat,” he said. “The conductor tried to calm her down, saying they’d be in Omaha soon. Then she ran down the aisle and jumped out.”

While still under investigation, Sampson said the incident may be considered an accidental death rather than a suicide because her frame of mind at the time is unknown.

“We just don’t know what she was thinking,” he said. “You see in movies and on TV someone jump out of a train, roll down a hill then walk away.”

Hatt’s family, according to Sampson, is also unaware of why she would have jumped.

Sampson said there will be no autopsy because the cause of death is obvious; a toxicology screening is underway, though, to see if she was under the influence of any intoxicants at the time of death.

“Right now there are a lot more questions than answers, but I don’t know if we’ll ever have more answers.”