MINNEISKA, Minn. – Deputes with a crisis a negotiator spent 90 minutes on an overlook at John Latch State Park trying to coax a woman not to jump. Then she either slipped or leaped into the night. This was about 10 p.m. at the bluff-top overlook. The overlook, which, intended for day-time hikers, has no lighting. The woman dropped 100 feet and probably died on impact, It was hours before emergency crews could reach the body. At dawn the body had not yet been recovered. The woman’s name was not released immediately because of difficulties contacting kin. The Winona County sheriff’s confirmed she was 33 years old. Winona authorities had been asked by Minneapolis police about 7:45 p.m. to check on the welfare of a woman whose phone had last pinged at Latsch Park on the Mississippi River in far northern Winna County. Deputes climbed steep trails through the dark and found the woman sitting on he edge of the overlook. Deputies and then acrisis negotiator engaged the woman in dialogue about 90 minutes before she disappeared over the edge. The body was recovered fter sunrise and taken to the regional medical examiner’s lab in Rochester.
Rescue teams
At the scene: Winona County Search Operations and Rescue team, Rollingstone fire and first responders, Minnesota City fire and first Responders, Winona Fire Department, Winona ambulance, Winona police K-9, Minnesota State Patrol Flight Division, Minnesota Department of Transportation, Winona County Dispatch, and Winona County Emergency Management.