HIGHLAND – Cristy L. Campbell, 32, has been positively identified as the woman in the water after her SUV was found partially submerged Thursday in Silver Lake in Highland. The preliminary cause of death is environmental exposure and drowning, the Madison County Coroner’s Office said Friday.
Campbell was pronounced dead by Madison County Coroner’s Investigator Shane P. Riley at 12:16 p.m., March 16, 2017, at Silver Lake in Highland.
Highland EMS paramedic Todd Zobrist found a vehicle to be partially submerged in the lake approximately fifty feet from the shore in 45-degree water temperatures. Todd Zobrist, a paramedic with Highland EMS, rushed into the lake to search the vehicle for occupants.
Zobrist located an unresponsive infant male child in the passenger compartment of the vehicle. The paramedic pulled the lifeless child from the vehicle and immediately began administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), on the roof of the partially submerged vehicle. Campbell’s body was located in the water a good distance away from the vehicle.
The infant was revived at the scene by the paramedic and is now being cared for in a St. Louis area hospital. He is stable and expected to make a complete recovery, Madison County Sheriff John Lakin said.
Routine toxicology testing for the presence of alcohol and drugs will be performed at a later time on Cristy L. Campbell. Funeral arrangements remain pending at this time.
