A trainee accountant died from head injuries sustained while she was being removed from a house by her partner, a coroner said.
Mairead McCallion (36) was found by police hurt outside a flat in Omagh, Co Tyrone, and died the following day in February 2014.
A criminal case against a suspect was dramatically dropped by prosecutors.
Some of her hair had been pulled out by the roots, an inquest found. Opportunities were missed to seek medical attention while in the care of police, but even if she had been immediately taken to hospital she would not have survived the traumatic injury, coroner Paddy McGurgan said.
He added: "I find that the trauma sustained was an impact with the deceased's head.
"It occurred on the morning of Sunday 23 February whilst the deceased was being removed from 6 Castleview Court by her then partner."
Ms McCallion, a trainee accountant, claimed she was grabbed by the hair and had her head struck against a wall during an assault.
She was found outside the house by police and died from bleeding on the brain a day later at the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen.
Her partner, Noel Knox, was initially charged with murder but the case was dropped after prosecutors raised concerns about inconclusive medical evidence.
The coroner said her alleged head injury was not reported to a forensic medical officer when she was seen at a police station.
He added: "The lack of details to the forensic medical officer represented a loss of opportunity in respect of the care and treatment of the deceased."
The victim's sister, Patricia O'Brien, said: "Mairead was a lovely, gentle, intelligent, articulate, kind person.
"Mairead can never be replaced, she was the most gentle and kind soul."
The findings of the inquest were delivered in Belfast.
Ms McCallion, who had alcohol problems, had been discovered by police locked out of the Mr Knox's house without her coat or shoes.
Officers suspected she was the victim of domestic violence and Mr Knox was arrested.
During Ms McCallion's time with police she became progressively more unsteady but blamed her high-heel shoes and officers at the station did not raise the alarm with paramedics.
But she deteriorated on the way to a friend's house, an ambulance was called and she died in hospital.
Pathologist Dr Peter Ingram told the inquest there could be a period of lucidity in people suffering such injuries before rapid decline.
He said even if Ms McCallion had been taken to hospital initially, the outcome would have been no different.
The trauma happened 24-36 hours before her death and a bruise was discovered on her head, indicating it had made contact with a solid surface.
The coroner's findings stretched to 12 pages and Ms O'Brien said he had gone further than the family had expected.
"We are once again left feeling very hurt, left re-feeling the pain of what happened to Mairead, not just of the incident that took her life but by the care that was given to her in the hours preceding that.
"We have always known that there were missed opportunities and it is some comfort that the coroner has now alluded to that and we believe that lessons have to be learned from this incident.
"Mairead was a very loving, caring, gentle, kind person, we would love this not to have happened to Mairead and our family has been in pain for the last three and a half years."
She said the coroners' findings reaffirmed the family's commitment to try to get justice for Mairead and they would continue to do that.
"We believe we owe it to Mairead to make sure that we do everything that we can to make she that she gets the justice that she deserves.
"It is a step in the direction that we have always wanted this to go, certainly in the right direction."