Authorities think they have recovered the body of the Illinois teenager who went missing last week on her way to a party and whose SUV was found Monday submerged in a pond.
Brissa Romero, 17, has been missing since Dec. 4, when she was expected at a holiday party in Vernon Hills, a community north of Chicago and about 17 miles east of the teen’s home in Carpentersville, Vernon Hills police said in a statement.
A body was found Tuesday in the same retention pond where authorities found Romero’s Nissan Rogue a day earlier, police said.
“While formal identification of the remains is pending confirmation by the Lake County Coroner’s Office, the deceased female recovered from the pond matches Brissa’s description,” police said. “No further leads relating to Brissa’s whereabouts are being pursued at this time.”
There is no indication of foul play, police said, adding that the investigation into what caused the crash will continue.
Investigators searched the pond after cellphone data placed the phone near the body of water. A backpack with Romero’s identifying information was found along the shore, police said.
A preliminary inquiry determined the Rogue was accidentally driven into the pond after the driver failed to safely maneuver a T-intersection, police said. Video from a nearby fast-food restaurant indicates the teen was driving shortly before her cellphone lost contact with nearby cellphone towers, police said.
The pond is about 20 feet at its deepest, about the depth at which Romero’s SUV was found, police said. The Rogue went about 60 feet into the pond, according to police.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
