'Pokémon Go' Leads 19-Year-Old Girl Not to Pokémon, but Dead Body in River

Impact

Not every encounter Pokémon Go might lead you to is with a Rattata or Pidgey.

Case in point: According to CNN Money, one teenager's attempt to catch 'em all led her directly to a dead body floating in the Big Wind River near the rural town of Riverton, Wyoming.

Shayla Wiggins had just downloaded Pokémon Go, a new mobile spinoff of the popular franchise, which asks players to explore real-life environments in pursuit of the creatures. Wiggins, whose home is on the Big Wind River, decided to go on a walk in an attempt to find Pokémon the game generates near bodies of water.

"Since it's virtual reality, I thought: that's cool," Wiggins told CNN Money. "I was trying to get a water Pokémon."

Eventually, Wiggins stopped beneath Wyoming Highway 789 Bridge, when it took her several moments to notice the dead body of a man floating roughly 6 feet away. She then notified police; Fremont County Sheriff's Office Undersheriff Ryan D. Lee confirmed to CNN Money the death was under investigation and appeared to be "accidental" in nature.

"I probably would have never went down there if it weren't for this game," Wiggins told the site. "But in a way, I'm thankful. I feel like I helped find his body. He could have been there for days."

According to the Denver Post, the free-roaming nature of the game has prompted some minor concern over possible safety issues. Ingress, another augmented-reality game in which players capture "portals" spread out across the real world and which partially inspired Pokémon Go's development, was associated with at least one death in Dublin, when 48-year-old man Frank Maxwell fell off a pier around 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 25, 2015.

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