FINAL UPDATE: Five Dead After Car Swept Off Bridge Near Patoka

Marion County Coroner Troy Cannon says it is unknown how five Kentucky residents traveling to Minnesota ended up in a rural, isolated area where they drowned Saturday night attempting to cross a low water bridge on the Farthing Road east of Patoka.  

The coroner pronounced the two adults and three children dead at the scene just before midnight after rescuers recovered their bodies. Cannon says all five died as a result of drowning. The five were the driver, 37-year-old Erin Schutt, and passegers 31-year-old Adam Schutt, 13-year-old Logan Schutt, 13-year-old Robbyn Owen and 10-year-old Chad Owen.

Cannon says officials speculate the five may have stopped for fuel or dinner while traveling I-57 and somehow got turned around or were following an erroneous GPS track.  

Cannon notes under normal conditions there is very little water trickling across the roadway, if any at all. However, that was different Saturday night as a result of recent heavy rains that had swollen the East Fork Creek as well as other waterways and created swift currents.

The car drove into what was described as 'several feet' of water and was washed downstream 150 to 200 feet where it became lodged.

Centralia Police 911 dispatchers received the initial call from two of those in the car around 7:30 Saturday night. The phone later went dead.

The first firefighter on the scene made verbal contact with the occupants, but shortly afterward, the car became dislodged, moving downstream a short distance further, and completely submerged. Cannon says at that point rescue became impossible.

Patoka firefighters called in the Keyesport and Greenville Fire Department dive teams to assist. Firefighters were able to get a hook onto the car and pull it out of the water with a truck around 11 Saturday night. It was when the firefighters got the vehicle out of the water they discovered the bad news they were anticipating of two people inside the vehicle turned out to be five.

Patoka Fire Chief Blake Hyde says it appears the car was traveling north to south and may not have seen the water until it was too late after cresting a hill. The low water bridge on the Farthing Road was between the Berry Road on the North and Britt Road on the south to the east of Patoka.

The bodies were taken to the Irvin/Macz Funeral Home in Centralia for temporary storage.

The accident came following an afternoon and evening of heavy rain. The Centralia Water Plant recorded 2.59 inches of rain for the 24 hour period ending at seven Sunday morning. One gate of Raccoon Lake was open the full eight feet and a second gate was open four feet as of eight Sunday morning to get rid of excess water. The open gates resulted in flooding below the dam in the normal locations. The Salem Water Plant recorded 2.47 inches of rainfall. The Salem Reservoir at 7 Sunday morning was 7.75 inches over the spillway, still more than 10 inches below where a flood watch was issued for Town Creek through Salem. The Alma Weather Station recorded 2.03 inches for the same time period.