QUECHEE — The Vermont Chief Medical Examiner’s Office has determined the body of a woman the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found south of the Quechee Gorge Bridge last week was that of a woman who had jumped off the bridge two weeks earlier.
The Corps of Engineers contacted police upon discovering the deceased woman — who police have not publicly identified — in the Ottauquechee River on the morning of April 28, according to a Tuesday news release from Hartford Police.
The woman’s body was in the water within about half a mile of the bridge, Lt. William Furnari, of the Hartford Police Department’s Outreach Division, said Tuesday by phone.
The Hartford Fire Department and an investigator from the Vermont Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office used a fire boat to retrieve the body.
The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office subsequently confirmed suicide as the woman’s manner of death and determined it was the same woman who had jumped on April 13.
Hartford Police waited to announce the body’s discovery until the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed that the body removed from the water was that of the woman who jumped, Furnari said.
Police responded to a welfare check at the Quechee Gorge Bridge that day after receiving a report of “possible suicide intent,” according to a Hartford Police Department news release at the time.
First responders observed the woman in the water below the bridge, but she was quickly swept away, Hartford Fire Chief Scott Cooney said at the scene that day.
A swift water rescue team made up of Hartford, Hanover and Lebanon firefighters spent hours searching the river to no avail, the Valley News reported last month.
In total, there were nine documented searches for the woman, leading up to the Corps of Engineers’ success by boat late last month, said Furnari.
In addition to the Hartford, Hanover and Lebanon fire departments and the Army Corps of Engineers, Lebanon Police, Vermont State Police, Vermont Urban Search and Rescue, Customs and Border Protection Air Unit, and Rescue Inc / Southern Vermont Technical Rescue, assisted Hartford Police in the investigation.
Those experiencing a mental health crisis can call or text the National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for immediate support. In Hartford, individuals in crisis can call 802-295-9425 to speak with a dedicated mental health liaison and connect with support services.
