Angela Chao, the younger sister of former U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and CEO of the Foremost Group, may have accidentally put her Tesla in reverse, backing into a pond where she became trapped underwater and drowned, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Chao, 50, died on Feb. 11 after her vehicle was found submerged in the pond located on her 900-acre ranch in Blanco County, Texas.
Chao left a Lunar New Year party with close friends at about 11:30 p.m. that night for a 4-minute drive from a guest house to her residence on the property, the Journal reported.
She then called one of her friends minutes after she left them, saying that her vehicle, a Tesla Model X SUV, wound up in a pond after she attempted to make a three-point turn. She said the vehicle was sinking.
Chao told her friend that she had put her car in reverse instead of drive, the Journal reported, something that she had done before, according to a report from Blanco County Emergency Services obtained by the Austin American-Statesman.
By the time some of Chao’s friends and a property ranch manager got to the pond, the SUV was submerged. Over the next several hours, her friends, then the ranch manager and his wife, and first responders tried to break the windows or find an escape hatch to get Chao out of the car, the Journal reported.
“The two deputies who were in the water standing on the submerged vehicle requested tools to break the window of the vehicle to perform a possible rescue. One EMS crew member donned water rescue PPE and entered the water with a Hallagan tool. One Firefighter entered the water wearing proper water PPE relaying tools to attempt rescue, several tools were used to attempt access to the victim,” the report said.
Eventually, the vehicle was towed out of the water and Chao was removed and found unresponsive, the Journal reported. Chao was declared deceased at the scene and not taken to a hospital. No autopsy was performed.
According to the Journal, the Blanco County Sheriff’s Office has denied requests for information, citing its ongoing investigation.
“Although the preliminary investigation indicated that this was an unfortunate accident, the Sheriff’s Office is still investigating this accident as a criminal matter,” the Blanco County public information officer said in a Feb. 29 letter to the Texas attorney general to explain why public information requests should be denied.
The officer said in an email Friday to the Journal that the investigation hasn’t been completed.
Chao is the sister-in-law of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. In his announcement that he was stepping down as minority leader, McConnell referenced Chao’s death.
“This has been a particularly difficult time for my family,” he said. “We tragically lost Elaine’s younger sister Angela just a few weeks ago. "
According to someone familiar with the matter, Chao’s death was a factor in the timing of his decision to step down, the Journal reported.
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