State trooper who drowned in South Dakota lake laid to rest

A State Patrol trooper whose 2023 rescue of a trapped fawn went viral was remembered Tuesday morning in a service in her hometown after she drowned in late June.

The funeral for Mollie McClure, 33, took place at her former high school, Jackson County Central in Jackson, in the southwest corner of Minnesota.

McClure, a trooper working in the St. Cloud district, died while boating in South Dakota on June 29.

McClure went into the water on Waubay Lake in northeastern South Dakota and was reported missing. An initial search by emergency responders failed to find her, and concerns about weather and darkness delayed a search, officials said.

“No criminal charges have been filed … and all parties have been cooperative with the investigation,” an update from Day County Sheriff Jerred Schreur said.

A video of McClure setting a trapped fawn free went viral online in 2023. Body camera footage the patrol posted online shows McClure approaching a bawling fawn stuck in a fence near a freeway, saying, “You’re OK.”

She untangled the fawn from the fence and within 25 seconds freed it. She then lifted the fawn over the fence, reuniting it with its mother. The video has been viewed and shared hundreds of times.

The State Patrol said in a statement that McClure had “a reputation as a respected trooper, mentor and friend. Her professionalism, compassion and commitment to service left a lasting impact on her colleagues and the community.”

Her brother, fellow State Trooper Lee McClure, pinned badge #343 on her in a ceremony after she completed the patrol academy in 2021.

Mollie McClure’s contributions on the force included training academy cadets, serving as a peer counselor and participating in a work group focused on increasing the number of female troopers, the statement continued.

“Trooper Mollie McClure served the people of Minnesota with professionalism, compassion, and a deep sense of duty,” Gov. Tim Walz said in a Facebook post. “Gwen and I are sending our deepest sympathies to her family, friends, and the brave men and women of the State Patrol.”

McClure graduated from Jackson County Central High School in 2010 and then studied at the University of Minnesota, her obituary said.

She and her boyfriend, Jay Kopel, loved hunting, fishing and hiking, and their cat Oxley and dog Arrow, the obituary said.

Along with Kopel and her brother, survivors include her parents, Scott and Terri McClure of Sioux Valley, Minn.