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More Details Released on Death of Woodlawn Woman Pulled from Floodwaters

The official cause of death for the Woodlawn woman pulled from floodwaters on Sunday is accidental drowning.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department reports an autopsy performed Monday on 25-year-old Shelby Mitchell revealed she fell victim to the high water, which swallowed up her car early Saturday morning.

The sheriff's department says deputies received a report of an occupied car in flood waters on North Panzier Lane -- about a mile south of Highway 15 in rural Woodlawn at around 2:30 Saturday morning.

First responders from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and Woodlawn Fire Protection District arrived and found Mitchell's family members already trying to search the area. She had called family at 2:15 a.m.

At about noon on Saturday, dive and sonar teams discovered what they believed to be a car submerged in 13 feet of water in nearby Rayse Creek. But, the water was too deep to attempt a recovery at that time.

The water level dropped enough on Sunday morning for dive teams to recover Mitchell's body, which was still in her car.

As a news producer and news anchor on All Things Considered, Brad provides the listeners with a recap of the day's top local and state news as well as breaking news at any given time. Contact WSIU Radio at 618-453-6101 or email wsiunews@wsiu.org
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