Tourist snorkeling near lighthouse off Key West gives signal, then dies, police say

A 42-year-old North Carolina woman died Sunday after she signaled for help while snorkeling off Key West, police said.

Erica Michelle Brown was taken to Lower Keys Medical Center on Stock Island where she was pronounced dead at about 5:35 p.m.

Brown had been snorkeling near the Sand Key Lighthouse with friends and family on a Fury Water Adventures Key West trip when she began signaling for help, according to Monroe County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Adam Linhardt.

She was given CPR on the Fury boat before being transferred to a U.S. Coast Guard boat, where CPR continued, Linhardt said.

Brown was taken to shore, where paramedics were waiting. The sheriff’s office was notified of the incident at 5:19 p.m.

Autopsy results are pending, Linhardt said.

This story was originally published February 1, 2021 at 3:59 PM.

Gwen Filosa

Miami Herald

Gwen Filosa covers Key West and the Lower Florida Keys for FLKeysNews.com and the Miami Herald and lives in Key West. She was part of the staff at the New Orleans Times-Picayune that in 2005 won two Pulitzer Prizes for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. She graduated from Indiana University.