TV producer dies after falling 30ft from rope swing onto rocks by lake
A TV news producer's life has been tragically cut short in a freak accident involving a rope swing at a lake.
Kathryn Hoedt, 23, known as Katie to her friends and colleagues, died on August 12 when she fell 30ft from a rope swing onto rocks along the shoreline, at Lake Folsom, California.
Friends carried her to a nearby boat ramp and an off-duty doctor performed CPR. She was rushed to Hoedt to Sutter Roseville Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
Katie, from California, is a graduate of New York University, and had been working in the newsroom at KCRA since October 2022.
The station's morning show, which she produced, was enriched by her "vibrant personality, boundless enthusiasm, and contagious laughter", according to Derek Schnell, KCRA 3 News Director.
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She fell 30ft from the rope swing onto rocks (katiehoedt/Instagram)
Katie was a graduate of New York University (katiehoedt/Instagram)He added: "She was also proud to be a journalist and she was deeply committed to serving our community. Katie had a bright future ahead of her and she’ll be deeply missed.”
Her mother Beth told KCRA: “I can’t believe it’s real, you know, she was such a bright light. Today, I tried to get some work done, and it was really, really hard because I knew Katie’s never going to be calling me again, and it’s going to be just something that I’m never going to get used to.”
The accident has prompted discussions about the dangers of rope swings in public recreational areas. A California park official also advised against using rope swings in the area.
“You don’t know who put the rope swing up. You don’t know how strong that is. You don’t know the tree, the branch. Anything can give out and it’s extremely dangerous,” Barry Smith, chief ranger of the Gold Fields District of California State Parks, told KCRA.
Katie Hoedt attended college at San Jose State University in the Bay Area. Professors and leaders of the SJSU journalism department described her as a dedicated worker.
“I will never forget her. She was a first-time freshman in my MCOM-72 class Fall 2018 and came up after class to ask if there was any opportunity to work on a student publication,” Dona Nichols, SJSU professor and advisor to the journalism department told SFGATE. “She then showed samples of her own publication she had been publishing online.”
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