An autopsy report released Friday stated that the former UCF student lost control of her car before plunging into a retention pond, becoming victim to a drowning, according to the Orange-Osceola Medical Examiner’s Office.
The student, Chloe Arenas, was not intoxicated, the report confirmed.
On June 28 the biomedical-sciences student left her friend’s house at about 4 a.m. to pick up her mother and grandmother for a trip to Nicaragua. She had gone out with friends to Howl at the Moon live-music bar near International Drive earlier in the night, unimpaired.
An hour later, she would abruptly lose control of her Hyundai when approaching the 408 exit ramp onto N. Alafaya Trail, leading the car to plunge into a retention-pond across the interchange. Tow trucks arrived at the scene to assist emergency vehicles in the retrieval but were unable to recover the car in time. The fatality was pronounced at the scene.
A suspected cause of the accident is Arenas falling asleep behind the wheel, although no updates on the crash investigation have been released by the Florida Highway Patrol.
In 2011, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reviewed crash data and death records from 2004 to 2007 and concluded that Florida averaged 57 deaths by drownings in those years, with 384 deaths occurring nationwide.
The Orlando Sentinel continued a review of the federal crash data, surveying records from 2008 to 2012, finding that Florida again topped the nation with 49 drownings inside vehicles during the five-year period. Texas came in a distant second with 18 deaths followed by Indiana with 14 deaths, and Louisiana and Arizona with 10 deaths in each state, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Arenas’ death and the emergence of several high-profile cold cases in the past month have prompted a response from local lawmakers, including Florida Senator Darren Soto, who has agreed to sponsor a bill in memory of Arenas.
