Update: Lake Vermilion Drowning Victim Died of ‘Natural Causes’

GREENWOOD TOWNSHIP, Minn. – According to the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office, preliminary autopsy results determined the 58-year-old who drowned in Lake Vermilion on Tuesday died of natural causes.

Saint Louis County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a water emergency in the Greenwood Bay area of Lake Vermilion around 5:25 p.m. on Tuesday.

Officials say Darrell Pfannenstein was observed by a nearby resident struggling to get on a jet ski. The resident offered assistance but Pfannenstein declined at the time.

A short while later Pfannenstein was found floating face down and unresponsive in the water.

The Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of death was not as a result of drowning.