Complete autopsy results pending
DICKINSON, N.D. -- Authorities said preliminary autopsy results show drowning as the cause of death for three Dickinson State softball players found dead inside a sport utility vehicle that sunk in a rural farm pond.
Stark County Sheriff Clarence Tuhy said Friday that two of the women's bodies were found in the 1997 Jeep Cherokee's rear cargo area and one was found in the middle of the vehicle.
The bodies of 22-year-old Kyrstin Gemar of San Diego, Calif.; 20-year-old Afton Williamson of Lake Elsinore, Calif.; and 21-year-old Ashley Neufeld, of Brandon, Manitoba, were found Tuesday.
Investigators believe the three were on a stargazing trip Sunday and likely drove into the water in the darkness. They were last heard from at 11:18 p.m. local time, according to police, based on frantic cell phone calls they had made to friends a minute apart.
According to the Dickinson Press, the pond is less than a quarter of a mile off a dirt road, and the women had been on private property.
"There was a fence line there with a gate . . . I don't know what the condition of the gate was," North Dakota Highway Patrol Capt. Eric Peterson said, according to the Press. "We found tracks that matched the vehicle in question in quite a few areas in that field."
Peterson said no airbags were deployed, but it was not clear if the three had been wearing seatbelts, according to the Press.
Authorities are still determining the speed of the Jeep when it hit the water, and would not comment if brake marks were discovered on the road, the Press reported.
Curt Lefor, Dickinson Rural Fire Department chief and a member of the dive rescue team, said the temperature of the water was 36 to 40 degrees at the time, according to the Press.
A complete autopsy report, including tests for drugs and alcohol, isn't expected for a week or two.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
