Woman's death in hot tub not a drowning, investigators say

A Boyes Hot Springs woman who died in a hot tub at her home late Thursday likely succumbed to a medical condition, authorities said Friday.

The woman, Patricia Schoenfeldt, 58, died shortly after 11 p.m. while in the hot tub with another family member at her Baines Avenue home in a neighborhood across Highway 12 from Boyes Boulevard, authorities said.

Emergency dispatchers first understood she might have drowned, and coroner’s detectives had some questions as well, Sonoma County sheriff’s officials said.

But investigators quickly decided she probably had some kind of medical problem, sheriff’s Lt. Scott Dunn said.

“Initially, we were prepared to look at it as a suspicious death,” Coroner’s Sgt. Mitch Mana said, “but we are not currently doing so.”

An autopsy is scheduled for Monday, they said.