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(TEMPE, Ariz.) — Police in Tempe, Arizona, are investigating after a Wells Fargo employee was found dead in her cubicle four days after she last scanned into the building.

The Tempe Police Department responded to the office on Aug. 20 after being notified by building security.

Police identified the worker as Denise Prudhomme, 60.

Her cause of death has not yet been determined.

“The preliminary investigation did not show any obvious signs of foul play,” police said.

Prudhomme scanned into the building the morning of Friday, Aug. 16, police said. Her body was found on Aug. 20 in her third-floor cubicle, and she was pronounced dead at 4:55 p.m., according to the authorities.

A spokesperson for Wells Fargo said Prudhomme’s cubicle was in an underpopulated part of the building and that colleagues were informed of her death after her family was notified.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague, Denise Prudhomme,” a spokesperson said. “Our thoughts are with her family and loved ones, and we are in contact to ensure they are well supported during this difficult time.”

The Wells Fargo spokesperson said counselors would be made available to support employees affected by the incident.

“We are committed to the safety and wellness of our workforce,” the spokesperson added.

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(NEW YORK) — As the investigation into Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump continues, the FBI is turning its attention to the obliterated serial number of the recovered assault-style weapon, using highly specialized techniques to uncover what’s been altered on the surface of the rifle.

Investigators are working to understand how suspected gunman Ryan Wesley Routh, who, according to court records, has a felony criminal history, allegedly obtained the semi-automatic SKS rifle.

In the tree-lined, chain link fenced area surrounding the Trump International Golf Club where the suspect was spotted by Secret Service personnel Sunday, agents found a digital camera, two bags, including a backpack and a loaded SKS-style 7.62×39 caliber rifle with a scope, according to a criminal complaint released Monday.

The serial number on the rifle “was obliterated and unreadable to the naked eye,” the complaint states.

Analysis into firearms includes conducting an urgent firearms trace. But to begin a gun trace, investigators need a serial number, and in this case, that key information was allegedly obliterated.

However, agents have several forensic techniques they can employ to restore obliterated serial numbers from a firearm.

Sources told ABC News Monday the FBI is forensically examining the firearm at its lab.

How investigators could recover an ‘obliterated’ serial number

Firearms manufactured in or imported to the U.S. are required by law to have a conspicuously engraved, cast or stamped serial number.

SKS-type firearms are not manufactured in the U.S.; they are typically manufactured in Russia or China and imported to the U.S. with stamped serial numbers, according to firearms expert and retired ATF executive Scott Sweetow.

“When the metal is stamped, and the deeper the stamp was originally, the more likely that the metal is to be deformed a significant amount below the surface,” Sweetow said in an interview with ABC News.

“And even if you take a grinder or scratch it out, or try to sand it out, those markings, the impression and the metal were deformed from the original serial number stamping process … those markings are going to typically survive,” Sweetow added.

Using a combination of specialized chemicals and instruments, investigators can reveal the serial numbers that, to the human eye, appear to be permanently removed, according to Sweetow.

As part of the process, chemical treatments are applied to “eat away” some of the defacement, grinding or scratching that was done to obscure the serial number, which is followed by using special instrumentation to view the previously invisible numbers “for what I would almost describe as a shadow that’s left in the metal where it was pressed down,” Sweetow said.

FBI and ATF also possess more advanced capabilities, including x-ray and magnetic resonance imaging, to peer deeper into the metal beyond what can be seen at the surface.

Though obliterated serial numbers can pose a challenge, investigators frequently overcome criminal efforts to hide the numbers.

“It certainly makes it a little tougher for investigators, but so many people obliterate serial numbers now or deface face them that the forensic techniques have gotten actually pretty good, to restore them much better than they were, say, 20 years ago,” Sweetow said.

Routh’s alleged possession of a firearm by a convicted felon carries a potential sentence of 15 years in prison, and the possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number can carry an additional five years if convicted, according to federal statute.

Routh appeared in West Palm Beach federal court on Monday morning. Prosecutors said he is charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Routh did not enter a plea to the charges and was ordered to return to court on Sept. 23 for a pre-detention hearing. His arraignment has been scheduled for Sept. 30.

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(NEW YORK) — The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in favor of keeping a proposition about abortion access on the state’s ballot, directing Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft to certify the proposition.

The order reversed a decision by a lower court and came after Ashcroft had decertified the proposition.

If passed in November by Missouri voters, the initiative would enshrine the right to an abortion in the state’s constitution and allow the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, which is generally around 24 weeks.

“The Right to Reproductive Freedom” ballot initiative, spearheaded by the group Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, would also enshrine rights related to reproductive health care into the Missouri Constitution, “including but not limited to prenate care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions,” according to the text of the initiative.

Abortion is currently banned in Missouri with few exceptions, according to an analysis of state laws by KFF.

Abortion-related ballot initiatives are confirmed on the general election ballots in 10 states: Maryland, Florida, South Dakota, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, and New York.

In Nebraska, the initiatives are still dealing with legal challenges. (In New York, the initiative does not explicitly mention abortion and involves additional reproductive rights and other issues.)

Advocates supporting abortion access celebrated the Missouri Supreme Court decision.

Rachel Sweet, campaign manager for Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, wrote in a statement, “Today’s decision is a victory for both direct democracy and reproductive freedom in Missouri… Missourians overwhelmingly support reproductive rights, including access to abortion, birth control, and miscarriage care. Now, they will have the chance to enshrine these protections in the Missouri Constitution on November 5.”

Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, the Democratic nominee for governor of Missouri, told ABC News in a statement, “I am grateful the Missouri Supreme Court saw through yet another attempt from the extremist anti-abortion politicians in Jefferson City to keep Missourians from having their say at the ballot box.”

Mary Catherine Martin, senior counsel for the Thomas More Society and an attorney who argued in the case, indicated that she feels the amendment will have adverse effects if passed — while indicating that it is settled legally that it will be on the ballot.

Martin said in a statement, “The Missouri Supreme Court’s decision to allow Amendment 3 to remain on the November ballot is a failure to protect voters, by not upholding state laws that ensure voters are fully informed going into the ballot box. It is deeply unfortunate the court decided to ignore laws that protect voters in order to satisfy pro-abortion activists who intentionally omitted critical information from the initiative petition.”

She added, “Missouri’s Amendment 3 will have far-reaching implications on the state’s abortion laws and well beyond… We implore Missourians to research and study the text and effects of Amendment 3 before going to the voting booth.”

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