OTTAWA, Ill. (CBS) – LaSalle County mother Tanya Shannon died of cold exposure, and her body did not have any signs of trauma.
An autopsy on Shannon, 40, of Ransom, Ill., was conducted by the LaSalle County coroner’s office, and results were released Thursday.
Shannon died from exposure to the cold, but toxicology results are still pending, according to the coroner. There were no signs of trauma on her body, outside of some minimal bruising that was likely caused by the car crash that killed her husband.
LISTEN: Newsradio 780′s Mike Krauser Reports
Shannon disappeared on Dec. 5, after her husband, Dale Shannon, crashed their car into a light pole and died as they headed home from a holiday party.
Tanya Shannon walked away from the crash site, but her body was not found until just this past Monday. Authorities had stopped the search for a while because of poor weather conditions.
On Monday morning, CBS 2’s Kris Habermehl and pilot Jeff Fair were following a search for Tanya, panning out their view from a lone telephone pole near the crash site. In their third turn surveying the cornfields around 9:15 a.m., the crew located the body in the middle of the field and notified authorities.
Police immediately confirmed that the mother of four was wearing the same clothes as the night she disappeared.
Autopsy results for Dale Shannon showed that he was drunk, with a blood alcohol level of more than three times the legal limit at .266.
