Wrong Turn In Rain Storm Results In Double Drowning

(MUNFORDVILLE, Ky., May 3rd, 2004, 11 a.m.) -- A wrong turn in a blinding rainstorm sent a car plunging into Nolin River Lake and resulted in the drownings of a man and woman, Hart County Coroner Jeff Roten said.

Jo Ann Layne, 55, of Nashville, Tenn., and James G. Thompson, 61, of Mammoth Cave, died at the scene, Roten said. The accident happened Saturday night at the Dog Creek boat ramp.

The two had visited friends of Thompson at a campground and were returning to his residence some five miles away in Layne's 1996 Chevrolet Lumina, Roten said.

"They came to a stop sign and turned right and right at the bottom was a boat dock," the coroner said. "They should have turned left, but when they turned right it put them right down in the lake. It was raining so hard I suspect they couldn't distinguish the road from the lake."

The incident occurred at 10:30 p.m. CDT, according to Kentucky State Police. A Hart County Lake Patrol officer spotted the car in the water about two hours later and summoned the Hart County Rescue Squad, Cub Run firefighters, state police and the county sheriff.

Autopsies were to be conducted in Louisville, Roten said. "The deaths were consistent with drowning and no foul play is suspected."

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)