The temperatures were in the 40s early Sunday morning and Sonja G. Smith wasn't a stranger to her surroundings. But the mother of two somehow found herself alone in a marsh, where authorities said she waded across a creek, lost a shoe, took off her coat and then tumbled or laid down and died.

Smith, 31, was last seen alive at 1:06 a.m. Sunday at Don's Little Bar on Hoffman Road. Her body was discovered about 12:45 p.m. Sunday in a field off the 1600 block of Whitaker Street in White Bear Township.

She was just a few blocks from her apartment.

"I'm just in disbelief," said friend Marnie Denn. "She's lived here her whole life. I don't know why she would choose that route."

Authorities suspect Smith was taking a shortcut home when she was overcome by hypothermia, said Ramsey County Sheriff's spokesman Randy Gustafson. The lower half of her pant legs were wet, likely from crossing the creek. She apparently took off her coat, which could've happened because hypothermia sufferers will actually feel hot, Gustafson said.

"It doesn't take long to freeze," he said.

Autopsy results are pending, but authorities have said they don't suspect foul play, and that Smith either fell or passed out. Preliminary results show she had a blood-alcohol-content of .164, Gustafson said.

The night of her death Smith had called her teen daughter, crying because her boyfriend, who was also at the bar, got into a fight and had to be hospitalized, Denn said. Smith was trying to find a ride.

"Everybody was having a good time," waitress Theresa Capaul said. "She danced. She ate. ... We just feel sick about it. If we knew she needed a ride, we would've given her a ride home."

Witnesses did not report seeing her leave, Gustafson said.

Smith worked at an energy audit business and lived with her children and boyfriend.

"She had a big heart," Denn said. "She's a good mom. Just a genuine, loving person."

Chao Xiong • 612-270-4708 Follow Chao on Twitter: @ChaoStrib