WANATAH, Ind. – The deaths of a husband and wife on their Indiana farm were caused from electrocution. That’s the official ruling in the deaths of Todd and Patricia Rosenbaum, owners of Circle R Farm and Hoosier Quality Meats in Wanatah.

They were married for over 30 years. 

Cass-Clinton Township Fire Chief Jeff Mitzner, who’s also a farmer, said the victims were well-known in a community left stunned by the accidental deaths.

“They were out doing things as husband and wife as my wife and I do all of the time on the farm. It’s a bad situation that happened,” he said.

La Porte County Coroner Lynn Swanson said the ruling was made following autopsies on the couple, who were both 60.

Swanson said the investigation shows Todd Rosenbaum was using a sump pump to transfer water from a creek into a large man-made pond on Aug. 29.

According to family members, the pond was recently dug for a dream home with a wrap-around porch the couple planned to build overlooking what would have been a fully stocked pond.

Swanson said the pump was plugged into a large electrical box about 25 feet from the creek.

The investigation shows Todd Rosenbaum was in the creek handling the pump when his wife sat down along the edge of the creek and put her feet into the water. It wasn’t long before the current powering the pump somehow leaked out, electrifying the water and the Rosenbaums.

“When it happened, it got them both,” she said.

Swanson said a daughter of the victims was unable to reach her parents on their phones, and went out to the property and discovered the bodies.

Police were unable to locate any exposed wires on the pump, which continues to be examined to see if there might have been a broken seal that allowed the electrical current to make contact with the water, she said.

Bill Field, a veteran farm safety expert at Purdue University, said one way a seal can break is if the pump is dropped.

He said electrocution can also occur if extension cords submerged in water are used to supply power to pumps.

Field said just a hairline gap between where the plugs on cords fasten together can allow electricity to leak out into the water.

“Electricity doesn’t need much space if it gets moist,” he said.

Circle R Farm is a small fourth-generation family-owned operation raising corn, soybeans, hogs, beef cattle and eggs.

According to family members, Patricia Rosenbaum, after retiring from the real estate insurance industry, became a full-time farmer with her husband and enjoyed feeding cows and working in the fields.

Mitzner praised the quick thinking of his men that possibly kept them from also being electrocuted.

He said the first firefighters to get there using flashlights to see in the dark noticed signs of electrocution and ordered the power shut off before moving closer to the victims and the energized water.

Mitzner said it would have been easy to rush in to try to help but the firefighters wisely stayed back to avoid the potential of being electrocuted themselves.

“My first guys on the scene recognized what had happened and they just didn’t go jump in. It could have been a major catastrophe,” Mitzner said.