BENTONVILLE -- Officials with the Benton County Sheriff's Office don't believe foul play was involved in deaths of a Siloam Springs woman and her 22-month-old daughter.
Sgt. Shannon Jenkins, the spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office said during a Friday news conference there was no evidence of any crime in the deaths.
Jenkins said the results of the investigation show Carol Davidson's death was accidental due to methamphetamine intoxication with contributing environmental hypothermia. The cause of the 22-month-old child's death was left undetermined, but most likely due to starvation or environmental hypothermia, Jenkins said. Environmental hypothermia is when natural conditions cause a body's temperature to drop abnormally low.
Family reported Carol Elaine Davidson, 35, and her daughter, RoseMarry Davidson, missing from Siloam Springs on Nov. 12, according to Jenkins.
The bodies were found in February near Lookout Tower Road, roughly 12 miles southeast of Siloam Springs, and taken to Arkansas Crime Laboratory.
Jenkins said the medical examiner found methamphetamine in Carol Davidson's system. Jenkins said they believe Davidson's vehicle got stuck and she exited the vehicle with her daughter to get help. Jenkins said Davidson may have been disoriented because of the methamphetamine and wandered into the woods where she got lost.
The area where the bodies were found is a mile and half from where searchers found Davidson's vehicle in November, Chief Deputy Meyer Gilbert said.
Authorities searched the area after for the pair after they disappeared in November, but the bodies weren't discovered until a deer hunter found Carol Davidson's body in February.
Davidson and her daughter were last seen at a Siloam Springs recreational park. Davidson's 1999 Dodge Caravan was found a few days later near Lookout Tower Road, an isolated stretch running through the Lake Wedington section of the Ozark National Forest.
A baby bottle, a diaper bag, a box of keepsakes and documents and clothing for both people were inside, Siloam Springs police said.
Gilbert said at Friday's news conference the location where the bodies were found was out of the search area.
Gilbert said he wished things had turned out differently, but now the family have closure. No family members attended Friday's news conference.
NW News on 04/08/2017