The death of Sadie Thibodeaux, the woman whose body was found in Lake Pontchartrain two days after she went boating with a friend, was likely an accident.
Citing police documents and an interview with a law enforcement source, The New Orleans Advocate reported Friday that the events might have been a tragic mishap.
Thibodeaux went boating with Michael Farley, 43, on Aug. 5. Hours later, his boat, the Good Humor, was found abandoned about 100 yards north of the University of New Orleans’ campus.
Farley was found floating about 7 a.m. the next day. Thibodeaux’s body was found the evening of Aug. 7.
Farley told The Advocate that he and Thibodeaux, 31, had gone swimming and were separated from each other and the boat. A source told the newspaper that investigators see little if any evidence of foul play.
“I spent 18 hours in the water,” Farley told The Advocate during his first public comments about the matter. He declined to say anything else. “This is something I’m still dealing with.”
A government lobbyist from Baton Rouge, Thibodeaux moved to New Orleans recently for work.
A New Orleans Police Department report said she had apparently known Farley for about a year, The Advocate reported. Police said they texted each other the morning of Aug. 5 and agreed to go sailing on the lake.
The boat was found with cellphones, car keys, a purse and wallet and Farley’s dog.
The Orleans Parish coroner’s office on Friday told WWL-TV the death remains unclassified while additional tests are completed.
