San Diego

An elderly woman who police believed may have been a homicide victim in her Southeast San Diego home Thursday died of natural causes, Lt. Phil Jarvis said.

An autopsy completed Friday showed that Mary Powell, 81, whose body was found by relatives in her Teak Street home, died of ruptured stomach ulcers, Jarvis said. Blood on the living-room floor where she was found came from the ruptured ulcers, he said.

Investigators originally suspected burglary, although the home was not ransacked, because a window had been broken and a screen door cut open, Jarvis said.

However, Jarvis said, detectives learned from the woman’s relatives that the window had been broken since at least last week and that the screen door was cut by the woman’s nieces to enter the home.

“There were no signs of forced entry,” Jarvis said. “We suspect no foul play.”