Woman fatally struck by Metra train in Riverside

A woman was fatally struck by a Metra train Thursday morning in west suburban Riverside.

BNSF Train No. 1250, scheduled to arrive in Chicago 8:27 a.m., struck Linnea M. Thorson, 21, of Woodridge, near the Riverside station, according to Metra and Riverside police.

Thorson was struck at 8:13 a.m. about 200 feet east of the station, Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

An autopsy Friday ruled her death a suicide, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

Witnesses told investigators that she walked from a yard onto the tracks, turned directly in front of the train and “posed” before the train struck her, police said. Her car was found nearby, which was parked only minutes before the first call came to police dispatchers.