SOUTHWEST RANCHES, Fla. – A teenager who was found dead next to the horse she was riding along a canal in Southwest Ranches has been identified.
The 16-year-old rider who died Thursday afternoon was identified as Lucia Rodrigo, the Broward County medical examiner's office said Friday.
Witnesses said they saw Rodrigo riding her horse, Brownie, at full speed along the canal shortly before they were found dead. It still isn't known how they died.
Vicki Geddis told Local 10 News she saw the horse and rider "sprinting past" her.
"And I thought, 'That's really odd,'" she said.
Rodrigo's friends and classmates at Cypress Bay High School in Weston said she will be missed.
"I just saw her on Monday," senior Anna Sofia told Local 10.
Sofia said Rodrigo was in the National Honor Society with her. She said the group would be doing something in Rodrigo's honor.
"It's really sad to know that this happened because you really don't know what can happen next," Sofia said.
A necropsy was being performed on the horse at the University of Florida, while the medical examiner was conducting an autopsy to determine how Rodrigo died.
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