Coroner rules on death of Charlotte mom whose body was found on Lake Wylie

A Charlotte mother of two young children whose body was found floating on Lake Wylie on March 31 committed suicide, the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled.

Vatsla Watkins had been missing for weeks before her body was found by the Buster Boyd Bridge, The Charlotte Observer reported at the time. She was 39 and married to former Mecklenburg County GOP Chair Curtis Watkins.

Watkins died of drowning in the lake, according to an autopsy report released Tuesday by the medical examiner’s office. Her public death certificate lists the manner of death as suicide.

Family and friends had neither seen nor heard from her since she left home on March 19 driving her Mercedes-Benz C230 sedan, the Observer reported. On March 22, officers from CMPD’s Steele Creek Division found the car near the 16300 block of York Road, just south of the Buster Boyd Bridge, at Pier 49 Marina. Her body was found March 31.

Watkins was a teacher and a fashion designer with 10,000 Instagram followers.

She had a 5-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old baby boy, according to a GoFundMe page created by Jason Watkins on behalf of her husband.

This story was originally published June 11, 2019 at 6:20 PM with the headline "Coroner rules on death of Charlotte mom whose body was found on Lake Wylie."