Carrie Elizabeth Romney, the sister-in-law of former Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), was found dead Friday night in a parking structure near a shopping center in Santa Clarita, authorities
said.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said homicide investigators responded at around 9 p.m. to the 24000 block of Town Center Drive, where they discovered the body of a 64-year-old woman identified as Carrie Elizabeth Romney of Valencia, California.
“The cause of death will be determined by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner’s Office,” the sheriff’s department stated in an advisory.
Mitt Romney, 78, the former governor of Massachusetts and a one-term senator from Utah, confirmed the death in a statement shared with
People magazine. “Our family is heartbroken by the loss of Carrie, who brought warmth and love to all our lives,” he said. “We ask for privacy during this difficult time.” Romney served as governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007, was the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, and later represented Utah in the Senate from 2019 until his retirement in early 2025.
Authorities have not released details about the circumstances surrounding Romney’s death, and no arrests have been announced.
The death comes amid an emotional time for the Romney family and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mitt Romney
told the Deseret News at the end of September that he was shocked by the deadly attack on a Michigan church in September, where four people and the shooter were killed.
He told the paper that he had called a cousin who once attended the Grand Blanc chapel that was targeted in the attack, adding that his family knows many of the people who attended the church.
On Sept. 28, Romney
posted on X, formerly Twitter, that it had been a “tragedy in Michigan as my brothers and sisters and their church are targets of violence. Praying for healing and comforting.”
The Romney
family is well-known as a prominent American political family with deep ties to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mitt Romney’s grandfather, Gaskell Romney, was the father of George W. Romney, who served as Michigan’s governor from 1963 to 1969. George Romney’s wife—and Mitt Romney’s mother, Lenore, ran for the Senate in 1970.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said the investigation into Carrie Romney’s death remains active.
According to the sheriff’s department, anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact the Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500 or provide an anonymous tip through “Crime Stoppers” at (800) 222-TIPS (8477).
