UPDATE: Indiana County Coroner Jerry Overman, Jr. and State Police released more information concerning the death of a woman who was found in a car submerged in a retention pond off Route 119.
Indiana County Coroner Jerry Overman, Jr. identified the victim as 33-year-old Paula Jo Saxton of Indiana. She was driving her SUV on Rosebud Mining property when her vehicle went into a retaining pool on the Route 119 mining site. Saxton had called 911 for assistance as she was unable to get out of her vehicle. Water rescue teams from Coral-Graceton, Blairsville and Saltsburg Fire departments were on the scene to pull the vehicle out. Once Saxson was extricated, she was taken to Indiana Regional Medical Center where she was later pronounced dead.
In a media release, Overman said that alcohol may have been a factor in the incident. Her death was accidental in nature, due to fresh water drowning.
WHAT WE PREVIOUSLY REPORTED
One person is dead in an incident where a car wound up in a retention pond off of Route 119.
Few details are available at this time, but we have learned from Coral-Graceton Fire officials that one person died in an incident that brought water rescue crews from three different fire departments out at 6:09 this morning, where they recovered a vehicle that had gone into a retention pond at the Rosebud mine site off of Route 119.
No word yet on the person’s identity or how the car got into the pond.
