Patty Duke's Stepdaughter Killed As Car Plunges Into River

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho - The stepdaughter of actress Patty Duke was killed when the car she was driving plunged into the Coeur d'Alene River near Kingston, police said.

Raeline Michelle Pearce, 22, of Coeur d'Alene died yesterday after the 1997 sport-utility vehicle she was driving skidded off Bumblebee Road and into the river, about a half-mile from where she and several friends were camping, Shoshone County Sheriff Dan Schierman said.

Pearce and a friend, 23-year-old Jeffrey Casey, had left the campsite to buy cigarettes. Casey was able to get out of the car and get help, the sheriff said.

Pearce, a student in the North Idaho College dental-assistant program, was the daughter of Mike Pearce, who is married to Duke. Duke, also known as Anna Pearce, starred in "The Patty Duke Show" in the 1960s, and won an Academy Award in 1962 for her portrayal of Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker."