Woman found dead with 8-foot python around her neck in western Indiana

Police are investigating the death of a woman found Wednesday with a snake wrapped around her neck in western Indiana.

She was alone visiting her snakes in a home used specifically for housing the reptiles when an 8-foot-long reticulated python wrapped itself around her neck, according to Indiana State Police Sgt. Kim Riley.

The owner of the home walked into the building Wednesday evening and found the snake coiled around 36-year-old Laura Hurst, who was unresponsive, Riley said. He called 911.

Paramedics arrived about 8:50 p.m. in the 600 block of North Dan Patch Drive in Oxford and attempted to revive Hurst, but she was pronounced dead at the scene, Riley said. She lived in Battle Ground, Indiana.

No people live in the home, which houses 140 snakes, Riley said. Twenty of them belonged to Hurst.

She visited the home about two times a week, but it was unclear for how long she had been dead, Riley said.

“The owner is a snake guy,” he said, adding that the owner isn’t related to Hurst.

State police have not been called to the home before, and the death did not appear suspicious, Riley said. An autopsy was scheduled for Friday to determine a cause of death.