Coroner identifies Cranberry woman who died in McConnells Mill fall

A Cranberry woman on an outing for her birthday fell to her death Wednesday while trying to retrieve a dropped camera in McConnells Mill State Park in Lawrence County, authorities said.

Her death is one of several in recent years in the park, filled with steep cliffs and ravines, some of which are off limits to visitors.

Cheryl Goebel, 58, was with her husband taking pictures of fall foliage when she dropped her camera while standing on the Breakneck Bridge, which spans Cheeseman Run.

Goebel was the wife of former state Rep. Ronald Goebel, 78. He represented several North Hills communities from 1976 to 1980.

Lawrence County District Attorney Joshua Lamancusa said law enforcement officials are waiting for reports from the coroner and park rangers to determine whether an investigation is warranted. Bryan Moore, the park rangers' supervisor at McConnells Mill and Moraine State parks, said her death is not considered suspicious.

The Goebels, who had been married 34 years, were on a day trip in celebration of Cheryl Goebel's birthday, Ronald Goebel said.

After dropping the camera, she tried to climb along a rocky ledge to reach it when she fell about 20 feet, said Moore.

“It's so sad. It's unbelievable. She just crashed to the ground, right in front of me. She was a great person,” Goebel said.

No one else saw the accident, Moore said.

The hill where the camera fell is fenced off, Moore said.

“She had to have walked around it or climbed over the fence,” he said.

Ronald Goebel said he had walked down one side of the hill to the stream while his wife tried to get down the other side when she fell.

A rope rescue team and paramedics responded. The Lawrence County coroner determined Goebel died at the scene.

“She died in my arms,” her husband said. “I have a wound in my heart that will never heal.”

An autopsy was being scheduled, said Lawrence County Coroner Russell Noga.

The park's rugged terrain has witnessed tragedy before.

In 2010, Donald Spillane, 47, of Cranberry fell nearly four stories to his death on rocks below a waterfall when he tried to rescue Megan McCune, 17, of Slippery Rock. McCune had hiked past warning signs to a moss-slick ridge at the tip of the waterfall, where she lost her footing and fell onto a rock.

In 2001, two members of the Unionville Volunteer Fire Company in Butler County drowned while trying to reach the trapped body of a kayaker in Slippery Rock Creek. Anthony Murdick and Scott Wilson were both 25.

Rick Wills is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7944 or rwills@tribweb.com.