Woman walking her dog suddenly fell through a frozen lake — she feared the worst until her hand latched onto a branch
A solo winter walk on a frozen lake turned frightening for a woman named Katie Shatusky when she suddenly fell through the ice without warning. What appeared to be a solid, snow-covered surface gave way beneath her feet, dropping her into icy water in seconds. As she struggled to stay above the surface, a nearby branch became the one thing that helped her avoid being pulled under. The incident, which was reported by PEOPLE, took place on December 29, 2025, and left Katie shaken but alive.
Katie, 43, of Elk River, Minnesota, had set out that day for a walk on Lake Orono with her dog Loomis. She was wearing snowshoes that her husband, Todd, had gifted her for Christmas, only her second time using them. Having grown up around the lake and lived in the same house her whole life, Katie knew most of the lake was shallow and trusted that the frozen surface would be secure. “I felt like I knew it really well,” she told CBS News. She planned to walk around a small island, staying close to shore while keeping Loomis by her side. But about half a mile from home, as she stepped onto a spot she thought was firm, the ice suddenly broke. “Really fast. I didn’t hear any cracking. I just [sic] took a step, and then I just was in the water, and then obviously took my breath away,” she recalled.
Katie didn’t fully sink, but the icy water shocked her body. When she extended her arms to try to push herself out, the ice around her hands also gave way. Loomis stayed safely on the firm ice, but Katie had to act quickly to avoid going under. Her eyes caught a branch nearby, which she grabbed instinctively. “This branch, I think, was an old tree,” she said. Her snowshoe became stuck in the roots underwater, and freeing her foot felt like it would never end. “It was probably seconds, but it felt like an eternity,” Katie said. Focusing on staying calm, she managed to get her snowshoe free and used the branch to pull herself up. The roots and branch combination kept her from being pulled deeper and helped her inch back onto solid ice.
Once on solid ground, Katie called Todd, who stayed on the phone as she slowly retraced her steps along the shore. Todd had trouble locating her on the Life360 app and even knocked on a neighbor’s door to make sure she could safely cross through their yard. Soon, he reached her in his truck. “You must be freezing,” he said when he saw her. Back at home, Katie immediately removed her wet clothes and took a hot bath to recover from the shock. Later, she shared her story on Facebook to warn others about the dangers of walking alone on frozen lakes. She advised always carrying ice picks, keeping a phone close by, and letting someone know your location. “There’s a lot of things I think I would’ve done differently,” she expressed. “Thank God that branch was there. That was my lifeline.”