An autopsy revealed what caused an Ohio woman to die after she was found unresponsive from riding a rollercoaster in Indiana last month.
Dawn R. Jankovic’s cause of death was released this past Wednesday. Dubois County Coroner Katie Schuck stated that the 47-year-old’s death had “nothing to do with the ride itself, but it basically was just the force.”
The official cause of death was listed as exsanguination and avulsion of the right internal thoracic artery, according to a media release obtained by the Indy Star. In simpler terms, Jankovic had “severe blood loss internally.”
The force of the rollercoaster caused an avulsion of the right internal thoracic artery, according to Shuck.
On June 4, Jankovic was at the Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari with her 17-year-old son Gunnar Merker when she was found unresponsive after riding the Voyage wooden rollercoaster. She was then transported to Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center, where she eventually died.
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The ride was closed that day “out of respect for the family,” the amusement park announced. “A full inspection of the roller coaster has been performed, and it was determined that the ride operated as it was intended to.”
Gunnar revealed on Monday that Jankovic “was a loving mom.”
“She loved going to different places, parks and all that. She was a hard-working mom… She tried her best to support me in all different ways,” he said, adding that the day of her sudden death, she had been “fine the whole entire day.”
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Gunnar’s father Gary revealed that rollercoasters were something that Jankovic and her son bonded over.
“Him and her are both rollercoaster enthusiasts… They go all over the place to different amusement parks. That was their thing and yeah, they’d been on it before… Just don’t know what happened this time,” Gary said.
A GoFundMe page was created to help with transporting Jankovic from Indiana to her home state of Ohio for a funeral. The GoFundMe page stated in part:
“I’m asking if you could donate anything or at least spread this donation around to dawns friends and family and to the coaster community who was at the park that day. I thank everyone who does so. RIP Mom you will be missed by your family members, the coaster community, and me your son. RIP Dawn.”
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