Cause of death revealed for Wells Fargo employee found dead at her desk

The cause of death of a Wells Fargo employee found dead at her desk after clocking into work four days earlier in August has been released.

The Maricopa County Medical Examiner stated 60-year-old Denise Prudhomme died of “sudden cardiac death in the setting of myocardial fibrosis,” meaning scar tissue had built up around her heart.

According to reports, medical experts say the leading cause of scar tissue on the heart is heart attacks.

Prudhomme’s death captured the attention of the nation when her body was discovered on August 20 at her cubicle inside the Wells Fargo corporate office in Tempe, Arizona. She reportedly scanned into work on August 16 at 7 a.m., but never left.

“It’s really heartbreaking and I’m thinking, ‘What if I were just sitting there?’” one employee told 12News. “No one would check on me?”

“To hear she’s been sitting at the desk like that would make me feel sick,” they continued. “And nobody did anything. That’s how she spent her last moments.”

During the four days that her body laid on her desk, no one had filed a missing persons report. There are some accounts that employees discussed smelling a foul odor at that time, but believed it was caused by the plumbing.

In the aftermath of Prudhomme’s death, the Wells Fargo Workers United union criticized the bank for not checking on their employee.

“Denise was the only person on her team in Tempe. This maybe one of the reasons why her desk was located in an underpopulated area of the building and nobody checked on her for four days.”

“Wells Fargo monitors our every move and keystroke using remote, electronic technologies – purportedly to evaluate our productivity – and will fire us if we are caught not making enough keystrokes on our computers; however, Denise went unnoticed at her desk for four days,” the union said.

“The solution is not more monitoring, but ensuring that we are all connected to a supportive work environment instead of warehoused away in a back office,” they continued.

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