CNNLONG LAKE TOWNSHIP, Michigan (AP) -- As a light rain and darkness fell, a woman driving her young daughter and two classmates to a dance concert apparently missed a sign at the edge of Long Lake warning that the road was about to end.
The car plunged into 20 feet of water, drowning all four.
"There's not even a skid mark showing they tried to brake," said waterfront resident Lou Beam. "It's a shame -- just hard to believe."
Authorities believe Dr. Karen Lynn Gilhooly, 46, took a wrong turn onto a road that ends at a boat launch Wednesday evening. By mistake, she turned a short distance ahead of another road that goes toward the arts center where the concert was held.
A sign warns drivers that the road ends, but it was dark and raining, police said.
The children killed were Rowan Sanford, Gilhooly's 10-year-old daughter, and classmates Sierra Fetterolf, 11, and Anna Lynn Maas, 10.
A man saw the car hit the water and called 911 with his cell phone, and rescuers rushed to the site. Anna was pulled out alive by a dive team but died Thursday at a hospital in Grand Rapids, about 130 miles south of Long Lake Township.
The two-lane blacktop road slopes downward gently before leveling off, then dips again about 100 yards from the lake's edge. The concrete boat launch extends into the water beside a short wooden dock, where a small bouquet of pink and purple flowers lay Thursday afternoon.
"There is no indication of excessive speed or any other factor except mistaken location," Grand Traverse County Undersheriff Nathan Alger said.
An 85-year-old man drowned in a submerged car in 2002 at the same spot, but authorities said at the time his death may have been a suicide.
"I don't think it's dangerous," Beam said. "There's a lot of people who drive down here. They look at the lake and leave."
The girls attended the Montessori Children's House and Elementary School near Traverse City.
"They have been classmates since they were 3," said Gretchen Uhlinger, head of the school. "They were dear friends."
Rowan, Sierra and Anna frequently attended cultural events together, Uhlinger said. The had planned to see a performance by a dance troupe.
Gilhooly, a rheumatology specialist at a Traverse City hospital, designed a health-education program for children and took a day off from her medical practice each week to teach at the school as a volunteer, Uhlinger said.
A grief counselor was to meet with students and parents Friday.
Ok, that's just WTF.
Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin
