Update: 3 missing ND softball players found dead in pond

A sad but quick resolution has come in the case of the three softball players missing in North Dakota.

Kyrstin Gemar, 22, of Grossmont, CA, Afton Williamson, 20, of Lake Elsinore, CA, and Ashley Neufeld, 21, of Brandon, Manitoba in Canada disappeared Sunday night after a trip to go “stargazing” at Lake Patterson in North Dakota. A friend of the three women received an alarming phone call in which the girls were reported to be “hysterical” and had mentioned water. No trace of the girls was initially found and investigators launched air and water searches to locate the missing students.

Around 3pm yesterday, the search ended tragically at a local pond, described to press as being “on private property.” The bodies of all three girls and a pet dog were found submerged in a 1997 Jeep Cherokee Laredo. Cause of death is being investigated, but it is believed that the girls drove into the pond in error. No foul play is suspected. Investigators say that it is likely the girls did not see the pond, and that in the dark it would have been “easy to miss.”