Leah Chase, Public Relations
On October 12 at 9 p.m., the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office began searching for Inga Lout, who was reported missing by her family. Lout’s family stated that she left her home at 5:45 a.m. on October 12 to travel to her place of employment in Center.
An investigation was launched by the SCSO, and investigators learned that Lout never made it to her job. Shelby County law enforcement officers immediately began searching Lout’s normal direction of travel and continued searching throughout the night.
On October 13, the Texas Department of Public Safety Aviation Division began searching the county by air. While law enforcement continued to follow up with leads, friends of Lout who were helping to search, located her body in a pond. Justice of the Peace Marla Denby pronounced Lout deceased.
Due to chemical residue being present on the water, investigators believed that Lout’s vehicle was under the water.
Further investigation revealed that Lout left the roadway, and traveled through a fence less than ¾ miles from her home. Due to the heavy fog that morning, Lout was unable to see clearly, and became confused on her direction of travel. Her vehicle traveled over an embankment into a pond. Lout’s vehicle was completely submerged under water.
With the assistance of the Texas Game Wardens providing a boat, they were able to use push poles to locate the vehicle. We then contacted Nacogdoches Fire and Rescue, and were provided two divers who verified it was Lout’s vehicle under water.
While the investigation did not end the way we had hoped, we are relieved that we were able to provide closure to the family.
The SCSO would like to thank Nacogdoches Fire and Rescue, Texas Department of Public Safety, Shelby County Game Wardens, Hughes Wrecker – Jason Burch, Huxley VFD, Shelbyville VFD, Commissioner Jimmy Lout and staff, Center Police Department, Constable Pct. 1 Zack Warr, Constable Pct. 2 Jamie Hagler, Constable Pct. 4 Taylor Fanguy, and Constable Pct. 5 Josh Tipton.
A very special thank you is extended to H&S Grocery. We appreciate your kindness.