Former Marine and her dog drown in Kings River near Reedley, deputies say

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Tragedy on the Kings River.

"She always had some encouraging things to say. She wanted to make sure we were all having a good time," said friend Kevin Horn.

Horn and friends have identified the woman who drowned in the river as Marine Veteran Mary Marshall.

This photo of Marshall with her friends was taken just hours before she drowned with her German Shepherd, Suki.

"She was just a beautiful person, it was always great to see her smile while she was on the river," said Horn.

The Fresno County Sheriff's Office says they received calls around 3:30 on Saturday afternoon about a missing woman and her dog.

"They both went under and got stuck. And so, there's a lot of trees in the waters, they're called an undercut where you can get stuck in there and we believe that's what happened, the water pushed her into that. The water is going to push you wherever the water wants to push you, it just pushed her down," said Frenso County Sheriff's Office Chris Tellus.

Authorities said Marshall wasn't wearing a life-vest. Dive teams were trying to recover Marshall for roughly three hours before her body and that of her beloved dog were found.

"It just happened so fast. By the time when we turned around, we couldn't out what gone down," said friend Zaid Arriola.

Friends of Marshall said they've been camping in the area for roughly 18 years. And Marshall was familiar with the King's River.

Sadly, this isn't the first time the group of friends have experienced tragedy.

"One of our friends had brought a dog to the river and we put a sign up on that tree, in remembrance of Pepa, a dog that we had here and tragically had passed away," said friend Dennis Sonney

As the group of friends mourn Marshall's death, they said her caring and sweet personality will be greatly missed.

"We wish she was still here next to us, yeah," said Horn.

A GoFundMe account has been set up to help Mary's family during this time.

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