By VICKIE JAMBON, Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – It appears that a LaPlace woman believed to have been struck by lightning was actually electrocuted by faulty groundwire from her neighbor’s trailer, said Capt. Michael Tregre with the St. John the Baptist Sheriff’s Office.

Tregre said 48-year-old Linda Madden was returning home from her brother’s house when she cut through a neighbor’s yard and came into contact with exposed groundwire.

“It was raining and the ground was wet. There was faulty wiring on the trailer. She was walking by,” said Tregre.

According to Tregre, Madden’s boyfriend called the woman’s brother, Robert Oubre, after finding Madden lying unconscious on the ground. Oubre called the sheriff’s office.

Madden who resided at 629 W. Fifth St. was sent to the River Parish Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 3:35 p.m.

Tregre said Madden used to work for Circle K. He did not know if the woman was still employed by the convenient store at the time of her death.

“She used to call the sheriff’s office all the time when she worked for Circle K. She would report gas drive offs, suspicious persons, loitering and all kinds of other things. She called us a lot,” said Tregre.