An 80-year-old Morgan Township woman was found drowned in a pond behind her home on Saturday, the Porter County Sheriff’s Police said.

The victim was identified as Ethel Bottom.

According to police, at 1:30 p.m. officers and other first-responders were dispatched to Bottom’s residence on 60 E. Division Road after she was reported missing.

Bottom—who police said had dementia—was last seen by relatives going to bed on Friday night.

An intensive search was conducted of the area by the PCSP, the Morgan and Washington township volunteer fire departments, Valparaiso Police, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, the Porter County Emergency Management Agency, and the Lake County Sheriff’s Police helicopter.

At 3:25 p.m. the LCSP chopper—Eagle One—located Bottom in one of the ponds behind her residence. Responders took a small row boat onto the water and recovered the body.

She was pronounced dead on shore of an apparent drowning.

Police said that Bottom was known to walk around the property and on some of the trails behind the residence and that there were no signs of foul play.

Posted 9/4/2012