Two women who died after plunging from a towering railway trestle this week, were mother and daughter, The Free Press has learned.

Police have closed the case and said only that the deaths were not accidental, declining to say more.

But many residents in tight-knit St. Thomas were aching to know Thursday what led to the apparent suicides on the sealed-off bridge that towers 27 metres above a busy road and how the deaths could have been prevented.

“We were just blown away that a mother and daughter would do that together,” said Pat Bacon, of Tabby’s Treasures in the city’s core.

She and colleague Jill Lawrence said the case has been the talk of many in St. Thomas since Monday, when emergency vehicles descended at the base of the landmark former Michigan Central Railroad trestle.

Rick Allen of Sunrise Small Engine, a busy shop nearby, said the deaths suggest more work needs to be done to raise awareness about mental illness.

“Help is out there, but some people are afraid to ask. Awareness needs to be out there,” he said.

The incident occurred about 4 p.m. Monday, during busy traffic on Fingal Line just west of Sunset Drive. Vehicles including school buses were re-routed.

Neighbours in the area were still clearly rattled Thursday.

To access the bridge, the 62-year-old woman and her 38-year-old daughter would have to have got past a three-metre bridge fence framed with barbed wire that extends beyond the bridge deck into the open air.

Some residents said they went scouring social media for clues to the case — who the women were, and what might have led to the tragedy.

“People want answers,” said one woman, who did not want to be named. “Why would they do it?

Several residents raised the need to talk about mental illness.

“For many years, people avoided talking about bullying and now we know you have to talk about that. It’s the same,” said Anwar Al-Shawi, who lives near the bridge. “This has to be an open subject. We have to talk about it.”

With files by Jennifer Bieman, St. Thomas Times-Journal

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