83-year-old searching for cat when she drowned

EDGEWOOD, Ind. — A woman says her 83-year-old aunt was out looking for a missing cat when she fell into the backyard swimming pool of a vacant central Indiana home and drowned.

The Madison County coroner says Wilma Ewing’s death was accidental and that she drowned in about 3 feet of water in the pool.

Jan Wilson tells The Herald Bulletin that her aunt had previously rescued the cat and placed it with a family in the town of Edgewood just west of Anderson. Ewing was helping search for the missing cat Sunday night when she went missing.

Police say Ewing was able to get into the backyard through an unlocked gate. Ewing’s car was parked in front of the house where her body was found early Monday.