Bay Area woman dies in waterfall accident

A woman died when she was swept away by a waterfall near South Lake Tahoe Friday afternoon, according to the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office.

Dina Stephanie Espinosa, a 35-year-old Bay Area resident, was sitting in one of the pools of water at Eagle Falls just above Vikingsholm in Emerald Bay when she slipped while reaching for a tree branch and was carried away over the waterfall, according to the sheriff’s office.

A search and rescue team and dive team recovered Espinosa’s body shortly after deputies arrived on the scene.

A GoFundMe page created at https://www.gofundme.com/stephanie-espinosa to raise money for Espinosa’s funeral and for her three children described her as someone who:

“gave everything for those she loved, she loved nature, being outdoors, and spending time with her kids.”

The page, which had raised nearly $4,400 as of Monday morning, noted that Eagle Falls was:

“a place she visited often and found serenity in.”