The 50-year-old CEO of Foremost Group died after her Tesla drove into a pond.
The investigation into the death of Angela Chao, sister-in-law of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), remains ongoing, officials confirmed on March 4.
The 50-year-old CEO of Foremost Group, a New York-based dry bulk shipping company, died in a private ranch in central Texas on Feb. 11 after her Tesla drove into a pond.
While officials from Blanco County determined that Ms. Chao had “succumbed from being under the water” and that there was no foul play, a letter from the county office to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stated the incident was “not a typical accident.”
“Although the preliminary investigation indicated that this was an unfortunate accident, the Sheriff’s Office is still investigating this accident as a criminal matter until they have sufficient evidence to rule out criminal activity,” the county’s public information officer, Kimberly Ashby, wrote in a Feb. 29 letter, which was first obtained by CNBC.
It states that the sheriff’s office is withholding key details such as the exact location of the accident and 911 logs, arguing that early release of records “could hinder their investigation.”
However, officials appear to have backtracked from the statement since it gained national attention.
When approached by The Epoch Times, Blanco County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Robert Woodring maintained that there was no shift in the investigation.
“Nothing has changed,” he said in a statement. “Our preliminary investigation has determined this to be an unfortunate accident. It’s still an investigation until all the information required to close it has been gathered and documented.”
He didn’t respond to further requests for clarification over the case.
Ms. Ashby, who didn’t respond to The Epoch Times’ request for records by press time, told a local media outlet that the national news coverage came from a “misinterpretation of a sentence.”
Foremost Group, which made public the death of Ms. Chao in a Feb. 12 statement, had characterized the incident as a “tragic car accident.”
By Eva Fu
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