As authorities await the autopsy results of a Texas woman found deceased on Monday in a creek bed, experts are questioning whether the beloved mom accidentally drove into a flooded area or if something else may have caused her death.
Emily Wade was found in Chambers Creek in Ennis on Monday, by a search crew led by Tony Wade, commander of Cajun Coast Search and Rescue team. Wade spoke with CrimeOnline‘s Nancy Grace and explained why the factors surrounding the incident doesn’t quite sit right with him.
“In history when we’ve found someone that drove off of that body of water, they were found inside the car, not outside of the car,” Wade, who is of no relation to 38-year-old Emily Wade, said.
Wade said that it’s possible, yet highly unlikely, that Emily may have accidentally drove into the water while driving in the dark late at night. Police have not ruled foul play in the case, as they are awaiting results from a medical examiner regarding the official cause of death.
They’ve also yet to locate the car Emily was reportedly driving, a 2012 Nissan Altima with a Kentucky license plate.
“I don’t know what she would have been doing, going that way,” Wade added.
The search crew commander explained that it would be almost impossible for someone to get out of car once it starts to submerge in water, and in the 1,000-plus cases he’s seen involving vehicles and water, the victim was always inside the car.
“You have the pressures of the water. It’s going to be very hard to open the door or window. The windows aren’t going to roll down when the car is submerged. The electrical system is going to short out. She would have had to have opened the door. When a car is sinking and the pressure from the water from the outside trying to get in, it’s going to be next to impossible to open the door.”
Although authorities have no suspects in the case and have interviewed Emily’s co-workers and family, Wade said that several factors “threw up big flags” for him that Emily’s death may not, in his opinion, have been fatal driving accident.
“In relation to where she was from the co-worker’s home throws up a big flag for me. Her being outside of the car throws a big flag up to me. Just her being in that area alone–it just doesn’t sit right…Everything about Emily, you know we always try get a pattern together of a person’s life, how they act, what they do, and this is outside of the pattern we came up with.”
Wade said the area around the creek bed was “clean” of signs of an accident, meaning there were no trees hit or any indication that there had been vehicle colliding with anything in the area.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, according to a Facebook post by the Ennis Police Department, Wade was found in a creek bed that had apparently flooded on January 5.
Authorities sent Emily’s body to the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office for a positive identification and official ruling on death. As of now, the cause of death is unknown. Her car has still not been found.
For additional information, listen to Wade on Tuesday’s “Crime Stories” podcast with Nancy Grace, which also features Atlanta lawyer Ashley Willcott, forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan, and “Crime Stories” reporter John Lemley.
[Feature Photo: Emily Wade/Handout]
