Woman Found Dead At Home With 8-Foot Python Around Her Neck

A woman was found dead with an 8-foot-long python wrapped around her neck in a residence in Indiana, Indiana State Police said.

36-year-old Laura Hurst was found unresponsive on the floor on Wednesday night, with the reticulated python wrapped around her neck. The python was uncoiled from her neck but the medics could not revive Hurst.

The home was owned by Benton County Sheriff Donald Munson and was used to keep a collection of snakes. No one lived there. There were 140 snakes at the house of which 20 belonged to Hurst, Sgt. Kim Riley of Indiana State Police, said. The house was newly renovated for the purpose and Hurst would reportedly visit twice a week.

"She appears to have been strangled by the snake," Riley told Journal & Courier. “We do not know that for a fact until after the autopsy."

This was a "tragic accident with loss of human life," Munson told J&C.

"For whatever reason, she apparently got the snake out and she was doing what people do with snakes," Riley said.

An autopsy will be performed on Friday to determine an official cause of death.