The La Crosse County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that college student Eliotte Heinz died in an accidental drowning in the Mississippi River after leaving a downtown La Crosse bar this summer.
Heinz, 22, was found dead by a person on July 23 near Brownsville, Minnesota. She was reported missing three days earlier.
An autopsy report states no evidence of trauma was seen. Her blood tested negative for drugs but positive for alcohol. According to the report, she had a blood alcohol level of 0.193, which is more than twice the legal driving limit in Wisconsin.
The Viterbo University graduate student was last seen around 3:20 a.m. in the 500 block of Front Street South after leaving a bar. Surveillance footage showed Heinz leaving the bar alone and not appearing to be in distress, according to authorities.
Additional camera footage captured her walking toward the river embankment.
Her smartwatch logged its final steps at 4:30 a.m. and recorded a last heart rate reading at 7:30 a.m. on July 20. Investigators found her cellphone along the path she had been walking, and a search of the device revealed no signs of foul play or suicidal ideation, the report states.
Before Heinz’s body was discovered, authorities and residents scoured the region for days, searching for the native of Hortonville, a village in the Fox Valley.
The La Crosse Police Department previously also ruled out foul play on July 25.