Police have lifted a car out of a New Orleans bayou three months after the disappearance of local schoolteacher Terrilyn Monette.
Authorities said Saturday that the car has been indentified as belonging to Monette, 26, and a decomposing body was found inside. Police have not yet identified the body. Monette went missing the evening of March 2 after she had last been seen at a New Orleans bar. The waterway the car was recovered in was the route she would have used to get home, ABC Local reported.
Monette was a second-grade teacher at Woodland West Elementary School. She grew up in Long Beach, Calif. and attended California State University San Bernardino, which she graduated from a little more than a year ago. She taught children in impoverished areas and was a member of the teachNOLA program. She was nominated for Teacher of the Year at her school. Family members traveled to New Orleans upon hearing the news of her car being found.
"I don't understand why it took them so long to find her car," Toni Enclade, Monette's mother, told The Times-Picayune. "This is supposedly one of the first places they would have checked. I'm just overwhelmed. It doesn't make sense."
A diver for the Slidell Police Department found her car, Detective Daniel Seuzeneau of the Slidell Police Department told WTVR. More than 15 cars have been pulled from Bayou St. John since the search for Monette began, Reuters reported. Police are now going to perform toxicology tests on the body to determine if there was any foul play involved in the death of who was found in the vehicle.
John Gagliano, the Orleans Parish coroner's chief investigator, said an autopsy would be performed on the body Monday to determine the identity of the victim and the cause of death. He could not immediately give details such as sex of the victim. Louisiana state Rep. Austin Badon, who played a role in leading the search, said the body was heavily decomposed. He lamented the grim outlook upon finding the vehicle.
"Unfortunately it wasn't what we were looking for in terms of finding her alive and well, but it does bring the family some closure," Badon said.
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