Sheriff: No foul play suspected, autopsy Tuesday

MT. MORRIS — An Oregon woman was found deceased Sunday night following the report of a vehicle in a pond at Sunset Golf Club at 216 Sunset Hill Lane in Mt. Morris, Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle and Ogle County Coroner Lou Finch said. 

Finch identified the woman as Erin Groves, 39, of Oregon. On Sunday afternoon, a Sunset Golf Club employee located what they believed to be the roof of a vehicle submerged in one of the ponds on the north end of the property of the golf course. The sheriff’s office and Mt. Morris Fire Department responded and confirmed it to be a vehicle and called in divers from the Byron and Oregon Fire Departments, VanVickle said. 

Divers looked inside the submerged vehicle and determined it was unoccupied. They began searching the rest of the pond until light was lost, which stopped the water search for the night. Deputies were also searching the area around the pond and located Groves approximately 300-400 yards from the vehicle in a fence row, VanVickle said. 

“At this time it looks like exposure to the elements is probably going to be the cause of death,” VanVickle said. “There will be an autopsy Tuesday, but we don’t suspect any foul play.”

VanVickle said the pond where the vehicle was found is not close to any roadway and tracks appeared to show that the vehicle traveled through the golf course “a significant distance before it ended up in the pond.”

“It appears a person ended up in the pond and got out of the pond and was walking away from the area,” VanVickle said.

A missing persons post was circulated on Facebook over the weekend in search of Groves. The post said Groves was last seen leaving a bar and grill in Mt. Morris on Thursday, Feb. 23 at 12:30 a.m. driving a burnt orange Dodge Caliber.

VanVickle said the Oregon Police Department took a missing persons report on Groves over the weekend and he believes that the time frame fits how the car was found.