MONROE COUNTY, Ga. — What started as a woman walking her dog at High Falls ended in tragedy earlier this week.
51-year-old Samantha Lee Brannon of Jackson was found dead in the water Monday morning, her dog tied to a tree on the trail further upstream, according to Cpt. Ricky Davis with the Monroe County Sheriff's Office investigative unit.
According to an incident report, Brannon lived on Ham Road in Jackson – just down the road from the park.
The sheriff's office received a call from a couple from Minnesota visiting the state park that morning after they saw Brannon's body in the water below the falls.
The report says that, as of now, they believe her death was accidental. However, the investigation remains open until a full toxicology report comes back to confirm that.
While investigators were on scene, they found Brannon's dog tied up to a tree near a rocky section of the river that has its own history of accidental drownings and daring rescues. It's a detour that has killed many parkgoers over the years.
They don't know how or why Brannon got into the water including whether she slipped or entered the water voluntarily. Her body was found downstream and, based on where her dog was tied up, she appeared to have gone over the falls.
Previous incidents:
Back in 2017, Christian Burdette and his brother James had to be rescued after deviating from the trails, we reported back then. A helicopter crew was able to rescue James but his brother, who was swept into the rapids, was found dead on a rock downstream after going over the falls.
That same year, 37-year-old Danielle Flagan of Savannah died after falling at the park. Her cause of death was drowning, but it was complicated by blunt force trauma to the head, apparently from falling on the rocks.
In 2018, we reported that the rescue of two teens cost close to tens of thousands of dollars, according to Monroe County Sheriff's Office officials. The helicopter sent from Atlanta was unable to rescue the teens due to the weather conditions, and they had to send the Macon dive team to save them.
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