An incident over the weekend where a car drove into Watauga Lake at a popular recreation area appears to have been a suicide according to police reports.
Police have identified the woman involved in the incident and notified her next of kin. Her name is being withheld by the Elizabethton Star. The woman was not from Carter County.
Around 5 p.m. on Saturday, deputies of the Carter County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Shook Branch Recreation Area located just off of Highway 321 in Hampton after a 911 caller reported a vehicle had driven off the roadway, down a steep embankment and into the Watauga Lake.
“Upon our arrival, witnesses to the incident said the vehicle was being driven by a white female and that the female was still in the vehicle,” CCSO Sgt. Larry Vaughn said in his report on the incident. “Two witnesses were in a boat and had immediately went to the location of where the car had sank.”
“The witnesses advised us the water was nearly 15 feet and the vehicle was approximately 40 yards from the shoreline,” Vaughn continued. “Due to the distance from the bank as well as the water depth, no first responders were able to attempt to get to the vehicle.”
Several emergency agencies responded to the scene — including the Sheriff’s Office, Carter County Rescue Squad, U.S. Forestry Service, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and a medical investigator from the Quillen College of Medicine.
Emergency personnel were eventually able to remove the vehicle from the water and located the female inside. Vaughn noted the driver’s door window was rolled down approximately one-third of the way.
“I located a purse and a Bible near the roadway and beside a tree,” Vaughn said, adding the purse contained the woman’s identification and other personal items. “Inside the purse I also located a hand written note that appeared to be a short suicide message.”
“Based on witness accounts and the short note, it appeared that the driver had intentionally driven into the lake,” Vaughn added.
The woman’s body has been sent to the Quillen College of Medicine for an autopsy to determine a cause of death.