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(AP Photo/Dickenson State University)
In these three undated photos provided by Dickenson State University, missing students, from left, Kyrstin Gemar, 22, of Grossmont, Calif., Ashley Neufeld, 21, of Brandon, Manitoba in Canada, and Afton Williamson, 20, of Lake Elsinore, Calif. are shown.
DICKINSON, N.D.— Teammates and family members threw roses and softballs Wednesday into the farm pond where three North Dakota college softball players were found dead inside their sunken sport utility vehicle.
But there were few answers to their most troublesome questions: How did the women find themselves trapped in the water? How long did they suffer after frantically calling friends for help?
"I can't believe that my baby is gone. I miss her terribly. I'm just wondering ... What went through her mind while she was still alive in her last moment?" said Claire Gemar, of San Diego, whose 22-year-old daughter, Kyrstin, was among the three Dickinson State University students pulled from the small pond after signals from the phone calls helped lead authorities to the farm.
No foul play is suspected in the deaths Gemar; Afton Williamson, 20, of Lake Elsinore, Calif.; and Ashley Neufeld, 21, of Brandon, Manitoba. The bodies of the women and Neufeld's dog were found inside the SUV Tuesday.
The women were believed to be on a stargazing trip Sunday night and authorities said they likely drove straight into the water in the dark. The pond is surrounded by high grass and shrubs off a narrow gravel road in a pasture north of Dickinson.
"In our minds, all of us have been reliving what we think they probably went through," said Gemar's father, Lenny.
Senior softball player Jody Lantz of St. Walburg, Saskatchewan, said she and fellow students came to the pond Wednesday "to understand it a little more, wrap our heads around it."
"It's going to be weird going onto the field and knowing that they're never going to be there," Lantz said.
Stark County Sheriff Clarence Tuhy said the women's SUV was found resting on its wheels Tuesday in about 10 feet of water with the doors and windows closed.
"When you're not familiar with an area like that it would have been very easy to drive into" the pond, Tuhy said. The sheriff said the students were on private property. He stopped short of saying they were trespassing.
