Drowned Woman's body found at Spot Pond Monday
Published on August 23rd, 2006
STONEHAM, MA - The Middlesex District Attorney's office found no indications of foul play in the death of a woman whose body was recovered from Spot Pond on Monday afternoon by Stoneham firefighters.
According to District Attorney spokeswomen Emily LaGrassa and Melissa Sherman, their office came to the conclusion after receiving autopsy results from the medical examiner's office this Tuesday.
Because the death is not considered suspicious, the spokeswomen explained, no details were being disclosed concerning the identity of the woman found on Monday, or the circumstances leading up to the body's recovery. According to reports, the body appeared to be a woman in her late 30's or early 40's, had no obvious identifying marks and there didn't appear to be any signs of a struggle or foul play involved.
"Our job is to say whether or not there appears to be foul play," commented LaGrassa on Tuesday afternoon. "We're really not releasing any information, but there was no evidence of foul play."
"A trooper from our office responded [to Spot Pond] late yesterday afternoon," Sherman said in a separate interview. "Beyond that, we're really not in the position to comment any further."
According to Stoneham Fire Captain Jim McLaughlin, who was not among the firefighting crews who responded to the scene, he also had few details to disclose about the incident.
Saying that the town's role was limited to retrieving the body from the waters, the Fire Capt. had also heard that the official investigation into the matter has been closed, as the death was being considered a suicide.
"I really don't have much information to give other than that we did pull a body out of there. Early yesterday afternoon, [the State Police] requested assistance from us," McLaughlin said.
"I believe it was a 40-year-old woman from Medford. The State Police are investigating the matter, but from what I've heard, they're treating it as a suicide," the Fire Capt. added, stressing that he could not with certainly confirm the age or hometown of the victim.
As of press time, The Stoneham Independent could not collaborate the identity of the woman, or if the death was in fact being considered by state authorities to be a suicide.
Monday's incident marks the second time this summer that Stoneham safety officials have recovered a body from Fells Reservation area reservoirs.
On July 11, despite the heroic rescue efforts of a number of Stoneham Police officers on scene, an 18-year-old Roslindale resident drowned while swimming illegally at the High Pressure Reservoir.
According to Stoneham Police reports, emergency officials were alerted to a 911 call placed to Malden Police about a possible drowning victim at the high-pressure reservoir in the Fells at roughly 3:20 p.m. that Tuesday.
Because the emergency call was originally placed to Malden and the problematic nature of finding the victim in a remote part of the reservation, it was several minutes before local emergency officials reported to the scene. A local walking his dog had already begun attempting to rescue the victim after he had submerged nearly 40 feet into the reservoir.
Stoneham Police Officer Dave Stefanelli, who "reportedly had been swimming laps prior to the emergency call" grabbed his swimming goggles and gear and hustled to the reservoir scene.
Stefanelli, along with Officers Dave Thistle, Officer Tony Kranefuss and Massachusetts State Trooper Jay McCarthy, first tried to pull the victim from the bottom of the reservoir, but the body proved to be too heavy to bring to the surface.
During a last frantic attempt to rescue the underwater victim, Stefanelli managed to loop a rope - brought to the scene by Stoneham police Officer Joe Ponzo - around the victim's ankle and the combined fire and police officials pulled the victim to the shore - where emergency workers administered CPR and sent him to Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Medford.
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