A mother was allegedly strangled to death by a massive eight-foot python in
a home filled with 140 snakes, police said.
Laura Hurst, 36, was found dead with the snake wrapped around her neck in a
home in Battle Ground, Indiana.
The home is reportedly owned by Benton County Sheriff Don Munson and is set
up specifically for the snake collection.
According to a statement by Indiana State Police spokesman Sergeant Kim
Riley, Hurst kept about 20 of her own snakes in the home and usually visited it
twice a week.
Sheriff Munson lives next door to the reptile house and reportedly saw
Hurst at the home on Wednesday evening. Riley said a person found Hurst later
that night on the floor with a reticulated python loosely wrapped around her
neck.
“She appears to have been strangled by the snake. We do not know that
for a fact until after the autopsy,” Riley told the Journal Courier.
Munson called Hurst’s death a “tragic accident with loss of human
life,” adding that he was “being fully cooperative with
everybody.”
Authorities said they plan to conduct an autopsy on Friday.