Officers responded to Lost Lake in Patapsco Valley State Park at 3:30 p.m. Monday after receiving a call about a deceased adult, and police later identified her as a 39-year-old woman from the Silver Spring area. The circumstances surrounding her death remain unknown as the Maryland Natural Resources Police continue investigating.
According to WMAR 2 News, the Maryland Natural Resources Police reported that the woman's body was found at the park in Halethorpe, and the agency is leading the investigation into her death. The Natural Resources Police holds statewide law enforcement authority over all Maryland state parks and public lands, a mandate carried out by 278 sworn officers, and the agency enrolled late last month in a national accreditation review of its operations, according to The Southern Maryland Chronicle. Founded in 1868, it is one of the oldest state conservation police forces in the country, per the same report.
Her body has been sent to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore, where an autopsy will determine cause and manner of death. Under Maryland Code Health-General § 5-308 and § 5-309, the office is statutorily required to investigate deaths that occur suddenly, unattended by a physician, by casualty, or under suspicious circumstances, per the Maryland Department of Health. The office is responsible for establishing both the medical cause and the legal manner of death, though no findings have been released.
A Remote Corner of a Historic Park
Lost Lake sits in the Glen Artney area of Patapsco Valley State Park, reachable via Glen Artney Road and South Street in Halethorpe, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The sector sits directly adjacent to the park's popular Avalon section and Grist Mill Trail, placing the discovery just off some of the most heavily trafficked ground in the park system. Silver Spring, where the woman lived, sits roughly 30 to 40 miles away in Montgomery County, a drive that typically runs along Interstate 95, per Rome2Rio.
Patapsco Valley State Park was founded in 1907 as Maryland's first state park and now spans more than 16,000 acres along 32 miles of the Patapsco River across Baltimore and Howard counties, according to Sea of Blush. The park includes eight developed recreational areas and more than 200 miles of trails. It draws between 1.5 million and 2 million visitors annually, a surge from roughly 1 million before the pandemic that prompted state officials last month to announce 10 miles of new trails and a pedestrian bridge to spread crowds away from areas like Avalon.
Lost Lake's Turbulent Past
The lake and the surrounding Glen Artney area were reshaped by Hurricane Agnes in June 1972, when 40-foot floodwaters washed out River Road, altered the course of the Patapsco River, and caused more than $8 million in damage to the Avalon and Glen Artney sections, according to Catonsville Patch. That flooding destroyed the park's original swinging bridge and shut down major sections for years afterward.
Monday's discovery is not the first body found within the park's sprawling boundaries in recent years. In June 2025, a hiker discovered human remains near the Forest Glen Trail in the park's Hilton area, a case that Natural Resources Police ultimately determined did not involve foul play, per Towson Patch. A year earlier, in June 2024, Natural Resources Police officers and local emergency divers recovered the body of a man submerged in a designated no-swimming stretch of the Patapsco River near the park's McKeldin Area in Eldersburg, according to AllSides. Investigators have not said whether Monday's case bears any connection to those earlier incidents, and no findings have been released tying the cases together.
Investigation Ongoing
Police have not disclosed whether foul play is suspected or whether the woman had been reported missing before her body was found. Those details, along with how long she may have been at the park before officers arrived, remain open questions as the investigation continues. Anyone with information can contact the Maryland Natural Resources Police through its 24-hour emergency line at 410-260-8888, a tip line the agency relies on to help police its vast network of state lands.
