An eighty-year-old Valparaiso woman was found dead in a pond near her home yesterday. Indiana Conservation Officers say they were called to assist in a multi-agency effort to locate Ethel Bottom, who was reported missing by relatives when she could not be located at her home. Family members told police that Bottom suffered from dementia.
Members of the Porter County Sheriff’s Department, Valparaiso Police Department, Morgan Township Fire Department, District One Task Force, and Porter County EMA began desperately searching the area near her home. The Lake County Sheriff’s Department began an overhead search of the area with a helicopter, and police soon discovered what appeared to be a body floating in a nearby pond.
The body was identified as Bottom, and she was pronounced dead at the scene by the Porter County Coroner’s Office. Officials say the death remains under investigation.
