North Port woman dies after falling into septic tank

A 74-year-old North Port woman died last week after falling into her septic tank, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office.

According to North Port Public Information Officer Josh Taylor, the woman was last seen the evening of Monday, May 9 at roughly 6 p.m. The next morning, the woman’s daughter called in a wellness check to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Department, and upon arrival at her house on Andalusia St. deputies found the woman’s body in the septic tank.

“It's not 100% clear on whether the lid to the septic tank had caved in previously and there was a hole and she fell into the hole, or it was weak, and just her stepping onto it caused it to completely give out where she fell in,” Taylor said.

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Sheriff's deputies were first on the scene as many in the North Port Police Department attended a funeral for a recently deceased North Port officer. When deputies arrived on the scene, the woman's hose was running, leading investigators to believe that the woman was watering her garden when the septic tank collapsed, according to Taylor.

Taylor said that after initial findings, the city medical examiner did not believe that the woman drowned. "They’re doing some additional testing, to see if maybe she had a heart attack or something along those lines, just based on the shock of falling in,” he said.

Taylor had not received the final results from the medical examiner, but did say that no foul play is suspected.

For the surrounding community, the woman’s death is a shocking tragedy.

Chuck Westenberg, who lived across the street from her, said the woman was “very private” but was a great neighbor. She used to own a restaurant and would bring food and cakes over to Westenberg and other neighbors’ houses.

The manner of his neighbor's death was a shock to him, as Westenberg said she was always out there watering her plants, day and night.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Septic tank collapse results in death of North Port woman