By Jason C. Mattox
and Billy Davis

An elderly woman who was driving to an Oxford hospital died of natural causes before wrecking her vehicle, according to a state coroner’s report.

Polly Green, 77, died of natural causes December 19 before the one-vehicle accident, said Panola County coroner Gracie Grant-Gulledge, citing the results of a state autopsy.

Green, of Pope, wrecked at the intersection of Pope-Water Valley Road and Highway 315, known for its curvy roadway.

She was driving a 2006 Toyota Corolla, a spokesman for the Miss. Highway Patrol said.

Services for Green will be held Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Pate-Jones Funeral Home in Senatobia.

Memorials can be made to Liberty Hill Baptist Church, where she was a member.

Panola Sheriff Hugh “Shot” Bright said the automobile was found after a four-hour search, when Green did not arrive at Baptist Memorial Hospital.

A woman who identified herself as Martha Keen, Green’s daughter-in-law, said Green was following an ambulance that was transporting her daughter, Debra Green.

Bright clarified, however, that Green was not traveling directly behind the ambulance when she wrecked.

The sheriff also confirmed that he told a Memphis TV news station that a helicopter would have helped in the search for Green’s automobile.

“It would have helped us find her faster,” he said.

DeSoto Sheriff Bill Rasco, contacted Monday by The Panolian, said his department was unable to help Panola County search for Green’s vehicle due to weather conditions.

“We were asked to help but we couldn’t. The cloud cover was 400 feet,” Rasco said. “We couldn’t fly in our own county.”