Lesley death ruled accidential
By Glynis Crawford Smith
The Highlander
The inquest into the October death of Sherry Kay Lesley, founder of GG Ganache in Marble Falls, has been closed with a finding of “accidental drowning,” according to a press release late Thursday, March 8, from Horseshoe Bay Chief of Police Rocky Wardlow.
Autopsies are frequent in cases of unattended deaths, and the HSBPD investigation had to remain open, pending a final determination by the Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office. That finding was “death by accidental drowning” and Wardlow said his department had found nothing to contradict it.
Lesley's husband Kent discovered her body in a bathtub in their home at 288 La Serena Loop on Oct. 22 last year. The HSBPD responded to his 9-1-1 call at 7:15 a.m.
According to a statement from the chief later in the investigation, the couple had attended a social function together on Saturday night, Oct. 21.
“After returning home, the husband went to bed while his wife prepared to take a bath,” Wardlow reported. “He awoke and discovered his wife, Sherry Kay Lesley, age 61, deceased in the bathtub."
“Horseshoe Bay police investigators have found no indication of a struggle and investigative leads did not reveal the involvement of any criminal act,” Wardlow said Thursday. “Evidence found at the scene, as corroborated by independent witnesses, indicated that, after a day trip to Lubbock followed by an evening social event, Mrs. Lesley had gone into her bathroom during the early morning hours of Sunday, Oct. 22, in order to bathe in a tub of hot water.”
Linda Ballard, Llano County Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace also responded to initiate an inquest. Texas State Statutes require a Justice of the Peace to conduct an inquest into any death not attended by a physician. As a part of her inquest, Judge Ballard directed an autopsy be conducted by the Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Based on the autopsy and toxicology results, the medical examiner ruled the death an accidental drowning.
The investigation revealed a variety of reasons, as listed by Wardlow, including alcohol intoxication, fatigue, and hot water, working in combination with one another, as the basis that led to her drowning.
As recounted in her obituary, Lesley had a passion to have her own business, which led her to start the Rag Doll, a Lubbock boutique shop across the street from Texas Tech University where she had attended college. Her love of the Hill Country led her to Horseshoe Bay in 1996, and she became the owner-founder of a Marble Falls incarnation of Rag Doll and GG Ganache, the furniture and home accessories store, now located in Market on H.
Memorial donations for the devoted Raiders fan were directed to the Texas Tech Foundation.
