Skydiver falls to her death in Lemmon Valley

Monday, Aug. 10, 1998 | 10:09 a.m.

Authorities said the woman landed in the front yard of a home in Lemmon Valley around 5:30 p.m. She died instantly.

A family friend identified her as Kathleen Auld, 41, an osteopathic physician with a private practice in Reno.

Clyde Blincoe, owner of InStead Sky Sports, said Auld took her first lesson about a month ago.

She had made a successful jump earlier in the day Sunday before the accident.

Auld was using a static line that is supposed to open the parachute automatically. But things went wrong when she apparently got tangled in the primary chute and it did not open, Blincoe said.

"She waited to long to open her second parachute," he said.

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