SCHROON LAKE -- An elderly woman drowned after going wading in Schroon Lake Tuesday night.

Family members reported Elizabeth A. Weiner, 81, of 18 Hurd St., Cazenovia, missing after she failed to return around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

She was found at 7:55 p.m. in the lake behind the Davis Motel, near where her family has a summer camp.

She was discovered 10 feet from shore, unresponsive and face down in two feet of water, according to the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Police said the Schroon Lake Rescue Squad was called but no lifesaving measures were taken, because Mrs. Weiner was deceased.

Investigators said Mrs. Weiner left her camp to go wading by herself in Schroon Lake. She was a seasonal resident of Schroon Lake, police said, and known to be a non-swimmer.

An autopsy was performed Wednesday at Adirondack Medical Center at Saranac Lake by Dr. C. Francis Varga, who determined the cause of death to be fresh-water drowning.

Essex County Coroner Walter S. Marvin III of Elizabethtown has ruled the manner of death to be accidental.

Schroon Lake Supervisor Cathy Moses said Mrs. Weiner and her family have been summer residents on Schroon Lake.

"I feel so bad for them. This is a terrible thing to happen."

Coming on the heels of a boat crash Sunday night that left a Horicon youth in critical condition, Moses said many people in town are upset.

"This is usually a quiet little lake we have here. We are praying for the young man who was hurt."

lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com