On the front seat of a parked car in Valencia, California, investigators found a worn copy of the “Book of Mormon” holding a secret that would ripple through one of America’s most powerful political families.
Tucked into its final pages was a handwritten farewell from Carrie Elizabeth Romney, the sister-in-law of former senator and presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s report, released with stark clinical precision, lays out the final hours of Carrie’s life. It details the note, the medications in her system, and the quiet spiral that ended on the edge of a concrete rooftop.
A Note Hidden in ‘Book of Mormon’
According to the Medical Examiner’s findings, detectives discovered a copy of the “Book of Mormon” on the front passenger seat of Carrie’s car.
In the final pages of that sacred text, investigators say Carrie had left a handwritten suicide note. The report also notes that medications were found inside the vehicle, underscoring that this was not a random or impulsive moment, but a scene that had been prepared.
For a family so publicly tied to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the image is haunting. A woman connected to a political dynasty, alone in a parking structure, turning to the religious book that shaped her family’s faith to leave her last words.
Mitt Romney’s sister-in-law left behind note before plunging to her death from top of California parking lot
Mitt Romney’s sister-in-law left behind note before plunging to her death from CaliforniaMitt Romney’s sister-in-law Carrie left behind a suicide note before she fell to… pic.twitter.com/nAKfsJeT2q— Bombi Nathoi (@BNathoi78288) January 22, 2026
The Final Moments on a Rooftop
The report pieces together Carrie’s final movements with witness accounts and security footage.
A witness told first responders that Carrie had been seen pacing on the top level of the parking structure. She was watching security cameras and looking over the edge of the parapet, behavior that drew enough concern for someone to remember and report it later.
Surveillance video, reviewed by authorities, captured what happened next. The Medical Examiner’s report states that the fatal injury occurred when Carrie fell backward from a seated position on the rooftop parapet.
She died from blunt traumatic injuries after falling from the top of the structure in Valencia. The report leaves no ambiguity about the cause and manner of death.
Xanax in Her System and a History of Struggle
Toxicology results in the report note that Carrie had 6.3 ng/mL of Xanax in her system at the time of her death. Xanax is a prescription medication commonly used to treat anxiety and panic disorders.
The findings were paired with information provided by her husband, attorney Scott Romney, who is Mitt Romney’s brother. According to the report, Scott told authorities that Carrie had previously driven her car off a cliff two years before her death and that she had struggled with anxiety.
Those details paint a picture of a woman who had been fighting her own mind for years, even as she appeared on the periphery of a polished, influential family.
A Marriage Under Strain
At the time of her death, Carrie was also navigating the emotional terrain of a marriage coming apart.
According to court records cited in the Medical Examiner’s report, Scott Romney had filed for divorce in June of that year, listing “irreconcilable differences” as the reason. The couple had married in 2016, and Carrie was Scott’s third wife.
It is an undeniably painful context. A dissolving marriage, a documented history of anxiety, a serious prior car incident and the weight of being connected to a family name recognized across the country.
A Political Dynasty Faces Private Pain
The Romney name is synonymous with political ambition and public control. Campaign stages, Senate floors and convention halls have long been their backdrop.
Yet Carrie’s death is a stark reminder that no title, no bank account, and no famous last name can shield a family from mental health crises and private despair.
Mitt Romney has built a career as a disciplined, image-conscious statesman. His brother Scott has kept a lower profile, working as an attorney. Carrie, by contrast, lived mostly outside the spotlight, known primarily through her connection to the family and the brief public notes that follow a sudden loss.
The Medical Examiner’s report does not speculate. It does not offer motives or emotions. It simply records what happened in those final hours, leaving the rest for the family, and the public, to absorb in their own way.
Faith, Silence and the Weight of Expectations
The presence of the “Book of Mormon” in Carrie’s car is impossible to ignore. For many Latter-day Saint families, that book represents solace, identity, and eternal perspective.
For Carrie, placing her final words inside its pages created an intimate, painful intersection of faith and farewell. It also highlights how difficult it can be, especially in religious and high-profile circles, to speak openly about mental health struggles before they reach a breaking point.
There is no public statement in the report from Mitt Romney or other family members about her death, only the facts compiled by investigators and medical professionals. The silence from those pages, paired with the handwritten note investigators described, suggests a story of pain that was carried largely in private.
What Carrie’s Story Leaves Behind
For readers far from politics or privilege, the details of this case are unsettling precisely because they feel both distant and familiar. A powerful last name. A religious text on the seat of a car. A person who had been struggling, alone at the edge of a rooftop.
Her story underscores a reality many already know but rarely see reflected in the lives of public dynasties. Mental health struggles do not discriminate. They appear in gated communities and quiet suburbs, inside modest apartments and on the top level of parking structures attached to shopping centers.
Nothing in the Medical Examiner’s report can answer the hardest questions for the people who loved Carrie. But it does offer a clear, documented account of her final day and the turmoil surrounding it, a record that now sits beside the headlines attached to the Romney name.
If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of self-harm or overwhelming anxiety, consider reaching out to a trusted friend, family member, doctor, or mental health professional. Help may feel distant, but it is there, even when everything else feels impossibly heavy.
