LR woman, 81, dies 1 week after suffering injuries in fall

LITTLE ROCK — A Little Rock woman died Saturday, a week after authorities said she disappeared and was found after falling downtown while crossing a street.

Lillian Ruth Eckhardt, 81, disappeared on Nov. 10 from her Donna Drive home about 3:30 p.m. and authorities found her nearly an hour later at UAMS Medical Center, family and police said. Doctors told family members that Eckhardt had fallen near East Capitol Avenue and Sherman Street, and she suffered a broken neck, spinal cord injuries and bruises on her face, Eckhardt’s cousin Holly Trantham said Wednesday.

Eckhardt’s nephew reported her missing after friends and family couldn’t reach her nearly three hours after she left for a grocery-store trip, police said. Her nephew also reported Eckhardt’s 2007 Dodge Durango as stolen, and officers found the sport utility vehicle the same day at Sixth and Main streets, about half a mile away fromwhere she was found downtown, said Little Rock police spokesman Sgt. Cassandra Davis.

None of the circumstances indicates the death was suspicious or a homicide, Davis said. Police don’t know what happened when Eckhardt disappeared, she said.

About 3:30 p.m. Nov. 10, Eckhardt left her home to go to the grocery store, family said. Eckhardt’s close friend tried calling a couple of hours later, but couldn’t reach her. At 6 p.m., Trantham said she called Eckhardt’s nephew, who called police to report her missing.

Nearly three hours later, police told the nephew Eckhardt was at UAMS, Trantham said.

“We don’t know how she could have done so much damage with a fall,” she said. “It’s horrible the way she had to die.”

Eckhardt had her purse with car keys, a wallet and credit cards at the hospital, her cousin said.

Eckhardt suffered fromAlzheimer’s disease and had been missing three times before, Trantham said. She had never been injured when she disappeared, she said.

“She was frail, but she was very active,” Trantham said. “Her good friend would pick her up every week and they’d go to the mall and walk. She would rake her own yard, bag after bag of leaves, and mow her own yard until about a year ago.”

She had worked as a pastor’s secretary for several years at First Baptist Church. Eckhardt was a quiet woman who loved animals.

“A lot of times she would have scratches all over her arms because she would pick up any old cat she saw,” Trantham said.

Trantham said she will miss the cousin she grew up with.

“When we were little, we’d write to each other, and when she was older, she’d spend a week with me during vacation time,” Trantham said. “She was just a really nice and a good Christian person.”