Clarendon County Deputy Coroner Bucky Mock said Tuesday evening that a 38-year-old Florence woman whose body was found Monday afternoon after she went over the Lake Marion Bridge during a Sunday night wreck died from multiple blunt-force trauma, not drowning or hypothermia.
"Basically, she did not drown, nor did she suffer in the water," Mock said. "We believe from the preliminary report that she was dead before she hit the water."
Michelle Hickson, who was reportedly a coach at South Florence High School in Florence, was pronounced dead about 3 p.m. Monday when her body was found in Lake Marion near the bridge by state Department of Natural Resource divers. Witnesses had reported Hickson going over the bridge during a vehicle wreck at the 101 mile-marker in the northbound lanes about 8:30 p.m. Sunday.
According to reports from the S.C. Highway Patrol, Hickson apparently lost control of her vehicle and hit a guardrail. She was standing outside the vehicle, according to witnesses, when her vehicle was struck in oncoming traffic. The driver who hit Hickson's vehicle sustained no injuries.
Capt. Robert McCullough with the state Department of Natural Resources said divers searched "all day Monday" before finding Hickson's body. At the time, authorities did not believe Hickson had jumped from the bridge to avoid the wreck, but that she was thrown.
"It's a sad situation all the way around," Mock said. "But at least the family will know that she didn't suffer."
