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Woman Found Dead In White Bear Township Identified

By Esme Murphy, WCCO-TV

WHITE BEAR TOWNSHIP, Minn. (WCCO) -- The 31-year-old woman found dead behind a business in White Bear Township has been identified.

The Ramsey County Sheriff's Office said the body of Sonja Gail Smith, of White Bear Lake, was found near the 1600 block of Whitaker Street on Sunday afternoon.

Friends say Smith walked to her favorite neighborhood bar, Don's Little Bar, on Saturday night. She was a regular and even listed the bar on her Facebook page.

Friends say Smith apparently decided to walk home and cut through a wooded area, which is filled with marshy wetlands.

Her body was found less than a half mile from the bar and within a few hundred feet of her home.

Investigators say foul play is not suspected and her cause of death is likely hypothermia, from exposure to the cold, wet weather during the early morning hours on Sunday.

"She seemed fine. She wasn't intoxicated. No, she was dancing. She was enjoying herself," said Theresa Capaul, who is a server at the bar.

The final autopsy will take several weeks because the medical examiner will perform toxicology tests including blood alcohol tests.

The overnight low that night was 33 degrees with a wind chill of between 27 and 31 degrees.

If you would like to make a donation to help her children, Daisha and Zayne, you can mail them to:

The Sonja Smith Family Memorial Fund
Postal Credit Union 2401 McKnight Rd. North
St. Paul, MN 55109

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