Gwinnett Daily Post

A Snellville mother of three drowned last week during a church trip to Florida, the current sweeping her into deep water as her husband and young daughter tried to get help.

Jacqueline Landaverde of Snellville would have turned 37 years old on Thursday. Officials said she drowned late in the afternoon of July 18 in Longboat Key, Fla., a small town about 10 miles north of Sarasota.

According to an incident report obtained from the Longboat Key Police Department, Landaverde, her husband Daniel and 12-year-old daughter, Sara, were swimming when the mother "started having trouble."

Sara Landaverde told police that the current "seemed to be bringing her mother further out and she (was) not a good swimmer." As her father attempted to help, the girl, who was using a boogie board, swam to shore and ran down the beach shouting for help.

"(Daniel Landaverde) felt he also was in danger of drowning and began swimming for shore," the police report said. "He reached shore but she did not."

A Good Samaritan swam out to the spot some 200 feet offshore, finding Jacqueline Landaverde floating face down and unresponsive. He and another man pulled her to shore and began giving CPR until emergency personnel arrived.

The woman was taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital and pronounced dead just after 5 p.m., police said.

The family, which was in Florida as part of a larger church group, could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.