OXFORD — A woman found dead in a home in northern Indiana had an 8-foot python wrapped around her neck.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Kim Riley said someone found Laura Hurst, 36, just before 9 p.m. Wednesday inside the home in the 600 block of Dan Patch Drive in Oxford. The reticulated python was wrapped around Hurst's neck when she found. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to Riley, the home has been renovated and is set up specifically for the collection of snakes.
The home is owned by Benton County Sheriff Don Munson, according to online property records.
There are currently about 140 of them inside.
Riley said Hurst frequents the home about twice a week and about 20 of the snakes belonged to her.
Hurst's cause of death was determined by the Benton County Coroner to asphyxiation due to strangulation by a snake. Her official cause of death is pending toxicology results.
The Humane Society of the United States said in a statement that at least 18 people have died from large constrictor snake-related incidents in the U.S. since 1978. Thirteen of the people have died since 1990, and a Lanesville man was killed in 2006 by his 14-foot reticulated python.
