JEFFERSON COUNTY, Texas — A passerby on Moore Road, in the western part of Jefferson County, spotted a woman’s body floating in a drainage canal, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday afternoon.
The sheriff's office said in a 5:15 p.m. news release that that the woman's death is not related to Tropical Storm Imelda's flooding.
Hours after the body was found, investigators released that they had also recovered the woman’s SUV at the scene and were in the process of notifying her family.
The license plate on that vehicle is registered to an address in Beaumont.
The call came in just after 1 p.m., and deputies went to the LNVA Canal on Moore Road, near Old Sour Lake Road.
Emergency Services District #1 and Nacogoches Fire Department members assisting with Imelda recovery were able to recover the woman's body.
It’s unclear how or why the woman was in the water. Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department Spokesperson, Captain Crystal Holmes, said the area near the canal suffered extensive flooding in the days following the landfall of Tropical Storm Imelda.
The woman’s body has been taken to the Jefferson County Morgue where an autopsy will likely take place as quickly as Wednesday morning. Investigators are hopeful that will give some indication as to how the woman died.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.