In Sep. 4-10 issue
By Derek Aaron
Times Journal Reporter

PLEASANT HILL - A Russell County woman drowned Sunday afternoon in Lake Cumberland while swimming near the Pleasant Hill Boat Ramp, according to Russell County Coroner Larry Skaggs, making this the county's first lake drowning this year.

Gina Lynn Lawless, 55, of Russell Springs was swimming with a male friend just after 4 p.m. on Sunday when he “went to move the car back up the hill,” Skaggs said.

He said when the male got back to the lake, Lawless had been pulled ashore by bystanders and they were proceeding with CPR but got no response.

Skaggs said Russell County EMS were called to the scene who then called him. Lawless was pronounced dead at the scene at approximately 5 p.m.

Skaggs said Lawless had been swimming near some on-water storage units at the dock when she was last seen.

“No one saw what happened after that,” he said. “One minute she was swimming and the next she was seen floating.”

Skaggs said Lawless' body was taken to the Bernard Funeral Home in Russell Springs.

Lawless becomes the second person to die in Lake Cumberland by drowning in 2008.

Skaggs attributed the lower drowning numbers to less tourists coming to the lake than usual, either due to lower lake levels or high gas prices.
Skaggs said investigators are checking to see if alcohol played a role in her death. Toxicology reports wouldn't be ready for 30 days, he said.