Name released of woman who collapsed in jail, later died

CHIPPEWA FALLS — The Chippewa County Sheriff's Office has identified the woman who collapsed in the jail July 4 and later died at an area hospital as 41-year-old Shauna I. Dommer of Augusta.

Sheriff Travis Hakes said Dommer was taken to the jail on July 2 from another secure facility.

"On July 4th, I was informed that Shauna Ione Dommer had been found unresponsive in the Chippewa County Jail," Hakes wrote in a press release Tuesday afternoon. "Chippewa County Jail staff began life-saving efforts and continued to do so, until EMS arrived on scene and continued those efforts. Shauna was medically transported from the Chippewa County Jail to an area hospital where life-saving efforts continued."

Coroner Ron Patten said Tuesday that Dommer was pronounced braindead on July 10, and life-support measures were turned off Sunday. Patten said an autopsy was being performed in the Twin Cities on Tuesday, but results likely won't be back for four to six weeks.

Hakes said that an outside agency is investigating the matter, and he won't have any further information to be released until the investigation has been concluded.

While it is unclear what caused her to pass out in the jail, Dommer has a history of drug use, according to court documents.

Online court records show Dommer was charged in Eau Claire County Court in May with a felony-level charge of possession of narcotic drugs and bail jumping. Dommer also was charged in January with possession of meth, possession of an illegal article, using or possessing with the intent to use a masking agent, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

In 2022, Dommer was convicted of possession of meth with the intent to deliver and bail jumping in Chippewa County Court. On May 29 — less than two months ago — Judge Benjamin Lane revoked her deferred sentence on that 2022 conviction and placed her on four years of probation. In 2020, she was charged with felony-level theft of movable property, but that charge was later dismissed. She was convicted in 2014 of misdemeanor-level theft.