TROY, Ill. (AP) – Authorities investigating the heat-related death of an 88-year-old Troy woman say she may have inadvertently turned on the heat in her southwestern Illinois home.

The (Alton) Telegraph reports that Madison County Chief Deputy Coroner Roger Smith pronounced Dorothy Scott dead Sunday evening.

Smith says family members found Scott after they got an answering machine message from her indicating she was ill.

The coroner’s office says it was about 90 degrees inside Scott’s home.

Smith says the home’s air conditioner was working but the thermostat had been switched from “cool” to “heat.” He says Scott suffered from bouts of disorientation and may have inadvertently changed the setting.

The coroner’s office says Scott had heart disease and hypertension and appears to have died of heat stroke.

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