Ashley O'Connor had been walking alone on a Maryland beach before she died, police said.
The strange death of a woman who was buried in sand and suffocated on a Maryland beach has been deemed an accident, authorities said.
Ashley O’Connor, 30, was vacationing with her family in Ocean City when she somehow landed in a deep hole, according to police.
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A beachgoer found the woman’s body almost completely buried in the sand, with only a hand showing, the Ocean City Police Department said in a statement.
O’Connor, who lived in Plano, Texas, was last seen going for a walk on the beach Monday at about 2 a.m., her family said.
On Wednesday, police announced the Maryland Chief Medical Examiner’s Office concluded the cause of death was accidental asphyxia caused by suffocation.
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A toxicology report is pending, police said.
O’Connor was recently married and had just established a painting business with her wife, Janet, according to a GoFundMe page established to help with funeral costs.
It was not clear how the woman ended up in the hole, or how it came to be filled with sand, police said.
But investigators concluded that the hole was not dug to bury O’Connor in it, the department said.
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