This archive report was first published on 2 November 2019.
On November 2, 2019, a tragic incident occurred in Oxford, Indiana, where a 36-year-old woman, Laura Hurst, was found dead with an eight-foot reticulated python wrapped around her neck.
According to Sergeant Kim Riley, a state police spokesman, the body was discovered in a house that housed around 140 snakes, including Hurst's own collection of about 20 snakes.
Medics attempted to revive Hurst but their efforts were unsuccessful.
"She appears to have been strangled by the snake," Riley told the Lafayette Journal & Courier newspaper. "We do not know that for a fact until after the autopsy."
The house belonged to Benton County Sheriff Don Munson, who lived next door, and he described the death as a "tragic accident."
