The death of Carole Pappas, whose body was found in a Wheaton pond five years after she disappeared, was ruled accidental Thursday at a Du Page County coroner`s inquest.

But that still left intact the mystery of why Mrs. Pappas, wife of former Chicago Cubs pitcher Milt Pappas, apparently drove her car into the pond. The body, still in the car, was found Aug. 7.

An autopsy determined that she had drowned, Coroner Richard Ballinger said at the hearing in Wheaton.

Toxicology tests showed that she had not been drinking or taking drugs, Ballinger said, though he acknowledged that such testing, after the body had been submerged for so long, could not be considered conclusive.

Tests did show possible traces of morphine or codeine, but that could be explained by prescribed medicine that she had taken for pain caused by oral surgery just before her death, Ballinger said.

Mrs. Pappas disappeared on Sept. 11, 1982, after leaving the family`s Wheaton home to run errands and go shopping.

Wheaton police repeated to the jury their earlier reports of store clerks and employees who said Mrs. Pappas seemed in pain or confused on the morning she disappeared.

Police and her husband disclosed that Mrs. Pappas at times had suffered from a drinking problem, but could shed no light on why she was driving in the vicinity of the fire station at 1590 S. President St., which is next to the pond.

And they had no explanation why she apparently steered her car into the 12-foot-deep pond, about a half mile east of her home.

That`s a question that may never be answered, Pappas said. Why she went that way; why nobody saw a car fly through the air into the pond. Obviously, some of these questions may never be answered.

Pappas said his wife was in normal health and was not suffering from distress except the pain of the surgery on her gums the day before. He did say that she had been depressed because her son had just gotten married.

The son, Steven, had been married two weeks earlier. He and his wife were expected at the Pappases` home for dinner that night, and one of the stops that Mrs. Pappas made that morning was at a Jewel Food Store in Wheaton to buy chicken. The package of chicken was in her car, along with her wallet, identification, money, jewelry and other belongings when the car was towed from the pond Aug. 7.

Police Cmdr. Gradie Clark said that Mrs. Pappas` hairdresser, a grocery clerk and a sales clerk at a Marshall Field & Co. in Bloomingdale said the woman appeared confused or disoriented that morning.

The hairdresser, who was not identified, told police that she detected an odor on Mrs. Pappas` breath that could have been alcohol, Clark said.

Pappas, 48, testified that his wife previously had a drinking problem and had attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. But Pappas said he believed she had abstained from drinking for a few years.

On one occassion several years earlier, Pappas said, his wife drove her car into the back yard of a Carol Stream residence when she was intoxicated.

Detective Boris Vrvos testified that a friend of the dead woman told him that on one occassion when Mrs. Pappas was upset she had missed the driveway of her own house and had driven onto the lawn. Vrvos said Mrs. Pappas had not been drinking at that time.

Carole Anne Pappas