Police: Sand caved in on woman who died on Ocean City beach

A GoFundMe site has been created in memory of a Texas woman who died after being accidentally buried in the Ocean City sand. 

Ocean City police said Wednesday that Ashley O’Connor, who was found dead on the beach near 2nd Street early Monday morning, died accidentally.

According to a department release, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled the death to be accidental and caused by asphyxia due to suffocation.

BACKGROUND: In Ocean City body on beach case, police hunt for answers

According to Lindsay Richard with the Ocean City Police Department, the asphyxiation was due to sand in the hole O’Connor was found in closing in on her, where she then suffocated.

“Investigators are still trying to determine what caused that hole to fall in, which is something we may never know, but we’re still investigating it,” Richard said.

She added that it's uncommon — but not unheard of — where someone has climbed in a hole in the beach and it’s caved in.

Richard said that O'Connor did not drown in water or vomit, and was approximately 30 yards away from the high-tide line.

When discovered, O'Connor was deep in the sand, with only a portion of her arm showing, Richard said, and investigators are still trying to determine why a hole that deep was present on the beach.

While she stressed that it was "pretty much conclusively ruled out" that someone dug the hole and put O'Connor into it, she did address a prevalent rumor on social media that beach cleaners — vehicles that comb the sand and pick up trash — may have covered her.

"It’s hard to say how deep the hole was to begin with, but if it was significantly deep, there is a possibility that that could have happened," she said. "But again, that’s one possibility they’re looking into that hasn’t been determined yet."

The night shift for maintenance employees typically runs from 7 p.m. through 3:30 a.m., although it can run longer if necessary, according to Ocean City's Public Works website.

During that time, the website states that five employees on tractors sift the sand, ensuring the beach is clean and leveled for the next day. Maintenance picks up again at 5 a.m. as trashcans are emptied and at 6 a.m., two employees on 4x4 ride the beach to pick up debris.

Richard said it is undetermined whether alcohol played a role and that the department is awaiting toxicology reports.

O’Connor, 30, of Plano, Texas, was vacationing with her parents when she became separated from her family at about 2 a.m., Ocean City Spokeswoman Jessica Waters said Monday, adding that O'Connor was not missing long before her body was found.

BACKGROUND: Body of Ocean City vacationer found buried on beach

Beachgoers alerted town employees to the body, and they contacted Ocean City police at about 6:30 a.m. Monday, Waters said.

The Ocean City Police Forensics Services Unit recovered the body from a hole in the sand with assistance from Maryland State Police crime scene technicians at about 4:15 p.m. Monday, with law enforcement officers remaining at the scene for several hours gathering evidence, Waters said.

It remains to be determined whether O'Connor fell into the hole or climbed in on her own accord, according to the release.

RECAP: Ocean City sees string of accidents in past two weeks

Who was Ashley O'Connor?

Much of the beach surrounding the crime scene was cordoned off with black plastic barriers and crime scene tape as the investigation carried on into late afternoon, and beach sweeping equipment stood inactive around the scene to shield it from onlookers.

News of O'Connor's death spread quickly, and many of her friends and loved ones took to social media to express their sadness over the loss of the 30-year-old Texas artist.

O'Connor was in Maryland for a friend's wedding, according to a Facebook post from a family friend, and after the wedding, family and friends had gone to Ocean City for vacation.

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched in O'Connor's memory, and by noon Wednesday more than $500 had already been raised by more than a dozen people.

The campaign, which has an overall goal of $5,000 and has been shared on social media more than 200 times, was started to help O'Connor's wife "with her daily expenses and to help ease the burden of life without Ashley."

O'Connor was newly married and had recently started a painting business with her wife, according to the GoFundMe page.

'Sand is very unstable'

Captain Butch Arbin with the Ocean City Beach Patrol, speaking in general about the risks involved with deep holes in the sand, spoke in no uncertain terms about how dangerous they can be.

"Sand is very, very unstable," he said. "What happens is you dig down and it seems like it’ll stay there, but then suddenly it’ll cave in."

The deeper you go, the greater the risk, he said, because once the sand at the bottom of the hole succumbs to the pressure above it you can have a very rapid cave-in.

"We've had situations where a parent has witnessed it happen and hasn't been able to help quickly enough," he said, relating several instances of near-deaths of children in Ocean City.

MORE: Ocean City Beach Patrol warns of dangers of holes in sand

"A child’s legs can be sticking out and the weight of the sand will simply be too much for one person," he said.

Arbin also added that while during the day the beach patrol strictly enforces an ordinance that no group may dig a hole deeper than knee height to the smallest member of the party, that doesn't prevent holes from cropping up overnight.

"It’s not unusual to find a deep hole dug during the night in the morning, but it’s very unusual for a deep hole during the day because we’re on alert for them," he said.

This story will be updated.

On Twitter @ReedAShelton