LITTLE ROCK — Little Rock police on Monday identified the body of a woman pulled from a creek Friday as 46-year-old Beth Rutledge of 2312 Ridge Park Drive.
Lt. Terry Hastings said in a statement that “autopsy results are pending,” and he had little additional information.
“It is unknown at this time how she got in Rock Creek,” he said. “The investigation is continuing.”
Rutledge’s body was discovered by a passer-by Wednesday night. However, it was Friday before searchers found the partially clothed body behind some tall grass and brush along the east bank of Rock Creek because it was likely stuck underwater when the area was first searched, authorities said.
Two Little Rock police detectives spotted the body about 11 a.m. Friday ensnared at the base of a tree about 15 feet from the bank, about a quarter-mile north of Colonel Glenn Road, along with other debris from Tuesday night’s flooding, according to Little Rock Fire Department Capt. Edwin Woolf.
Firefighters waded into the 2-foot-deep water, which Woolf said had been waist high Thursday, to recover the body.
Rutledge lived at the end of a cul de sac just a stone’s throw from Boyle Park. Her home and a dozen or so others had a view of the park through the trees that line Ridge Park Drive, which runs parallel to Boyle Park Road.
Arkansas, Pages 8 on 03/27/2012