STANFORD — A woman was found dead in a wrecked truck on Swope Road last Thursday morning.

Paula Denise Crabtree, 48, of Stanford, was pronounced dead at the scene on Dec. 21 at about 8:30 a.m. by Lincoln County Coroner Farris Marcum.

Marcum said Crabtree had been visiting with her brother and father at a residence on Swope Road the previous night.

“She leaves, and we don’t know exactly how long she had been there, but she had come up Swope Road, rounded a curve, run off the roadway, traveled several hundred feet and then struck a large tree,” Marcum said. “We suspect that alcohol and speed are going to be a factor.”

Toxicology results are currently pending, he said, and are expected within the next few weeks.

The truck was a new extended cab, four-wheel-drive pickup truck, Marcum said.

“It was high impact because all of the airbags deployed. There was some major, major front-end damage. It buckled the frame,” he said.

The cause of Crabtree’s death was determined to be multiple blunt force trauma, Marcum said. She was not wearing a seatbelt, he added.

“She had been there for some time,” he said.

Marcum said Lincoln County Sheriff Curt Folger is overseeing the ongoing investigation and plans to send the truck’s “black box” to Kentucky State Police for analysis to help determine the speed at which Crabtree was traveling at the time of the crash.

“It’s just a tragic deal,” Marcum said.

A funeral service was held Saturday, Dec. 23 at Fox and Friend Funeral Home in Stanford.