TV news producer, 23, dies after falling 30 feet from rope swing in freak accident: ‘One of the nicest people’

A California journalist and New York College graduate who “lit up the newsroom” was killed throughout a freak rope-swinging accident on Aug. 12, according to her job’s station KCRA.

Kathryn Hoedt, 23, died after witnesses say she fell 30 toes from the rope swing onto rocks alongside the shoreline at Folsom Lake, simply 24 miles exterior of Sacramento.

Associates who had been with Hoedt helped carry her to a close-by boat ramp the place park officers had been positioned on the time.

An off-duty physician carried out CPR earlier than an ambulance arrived to move Hoedt to Sutter Roseville Medical Heart, the place she was pronounced useless.

“I can’t consider it’s actual, you recognize, she was such a vivid gentle,” her mother Beth told KCRA. “Right this moment, I attempted to get some work completed, and it was actually, actually laborious as a result of I knew Katie’s by no means going to be calling me once more, and it’s going to be simply one thing that I’m by no means going to get used to.”

Hoedt, also referred to as Katie, graduated from San Jose State College in 2021 earlier than she earned her Grasp’s diploma from New York College in 2022.

The Sacramento native stayed near dwelling and joined KCRA 3 in Oct. 2022, the place she produced the station’s morning present.

“Our group is heartbroken in regards to the lack of Katie Hoedt,” KCRA 3 Information Director Derek Schnell stated. “She had a vibrant character, she lit up the newsroom together with her enthusiasm and her laughter was contagious.

“She was additionally proud to be a journalist and he or she was deeply dedicated to serving our neighborhood. Katie had a vivid future forward of her and he or she’ll be deeply missed.”

The KCRA 3 information station wrote on its website: “Her coworkers universally stated she was one of many nicest individuals they ever labored with.”

Rope swings should not allowed on the lake web site, in line with native authorities.

“That is one thing we don’t permit right here at state parks, and we do make an effort to chop down the rope swings that we see due to conditions like this,” said Mike Howard, superintendent for the agency’s Folsom sector.

A California park official additionally suggested in opposition to utilizing rope swings within the space.

“You don’t know who put the rope swing up. You don’t understand how sturdy that’s. You don’t know the tree, the department. Something can provide out and it’s extraordinarily harmful,” Barry Smith, chief ranger of the Gold Fields District of California State Parks, told KCRA.

Folsom Lake’s altering water ranges have been made recognized to residents through the years, according to the Sacramento Bee.

Howard famous the lake has fallen 15 toes since Might — which exposes extra shoreline and will increase the gap one can fall from a rope swing.