Taking a shortcut home may have cost Stephanie Gelhart her life.
Her body was found in a creek along Buchanan Way in Warminster on Thursday afternoon by a woman and her two children who were walking through the woods.
Initially, investigators treated the death as suspicious, but Friday morning the medical examiner ruled it was accidental after determining that Gelhart, 49, died of Hypothermia and that "alcohol intoxication" was a factor.
The theory is that Gelhart was walking home Monday night from Big Heads Bar and decided to take a shortcut through the woods. Investigators think she fell down an embankment into the near-freezing water.
"I want everybody to know that she was just the greatest lady that I've ever known in my whole entire life," her son Justin said when he visited the site Thursday night where her body was found.
He'd just talked to his mom Monday to talk about plans for a family vacation.
"My mom was just the biggest sweetheart. . .she would brighten your day up, she would do anything for you."
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Hypothermia is fatal when your core body temperature gets too cold for your major organs to function. It can take effect in minutes and if you have alcohol in your system, you're even more susceptible.
