A former Florida circuit judge accidentally drowned in a hot tub at her vacation home in Georgia, according to a coroner.

A neighbor found Tracy Sheehan, 60, face down in the hot tub on Christmas morning after she grew concerned about hearing the judge's dog barking at her home in Blue Ridge, Fannin County coroner Becky Callihan told the Tampa Bay Times.

Investigators believe Sheehan fell, hit her head and then drowned, Callihan said.

"They found evidence where she had hit her nose," Callihan said Monday. "Her glasses had scratched her nose when she went down."

The newspaper reported Sheehan was dead for several hours before the neighbor found her body.

The Medical Examiner's Office of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation made the determination. An autopsy report and toxicology results have not been completed.

Sheehan was a respected lawyer and jurist known as an advocate for children in Hillsborough Circuit Court. She served in juvenile delinquency, juvenile dependency and family divisions in Tampa and Plant City, Florida.

She worked as a family law mediator since her retirement in 2017 after 11 years on the bench. The Stetson University law graduate became a Florida Bar member in 1989.

Sheehan also was an anchor on WTVC-TV in Chattanooga, Tennessee, before starting her legal career.

On Facebook, Plant City attorney Ron Tulin called her "a fine jurist and a wonderful human being."

"She approached cases with a practical sense, get them done," he wrote. "Even when she had ruled against me, I verily believe she always acted in the best interest of the children. In my opinion, this was her best trait and there are many."