Ohio mom found dead in wrecked car, abandoned in the woods

WHITEWATER TOWNSHIP, Ohio - After an Ohio mother was found dead in the woods in a wrecked car, the woman's family is seeking answers, reports CBS affiliate WKRC.

Friends and family had searched for 29-year-old Colerain Township resident Jena Higgins since midday Sunday, according to the woman's mother, Julie Ramage.

On Monday, after Higgins was reported missing by her mother, two of Higgins' friends found the crushed Pontiac that contained her body off Cilley Road in Whitewater Township, 15 miles away from her home, according to the station.

Ramage told WKRC her daughter went out Saturday night after getting off work and somehow wound up getting a ride with the car's driver, who has not been identified. She said the car crashed in the woods and the driver fled the scene, abandoning Higgins, a mother to four young boys.

Police closed down part of the road, considered a crime scene, on Monday. Authorities said a person of interest was being interviewed but so far no one has been charged with a crime.

"[The driver] ran to the ambulance, police - whatever - to get help for himself and said two men beat him up and took his car," Ramage told the station.

Police Lt. Tom Butler said Higgins' friends knew where to look for the car after getting a third party. "They had some information from some people... that the vehicle had been wrecked and they came down here and they found it in the tree line," he told WKRC.

The victim's family said they did not know the man driving the car, though they believe he was giving her a ride to a party. On Tuesday, they held a vigil near the crash scene.

"I want everybody to pray for her, the boys," Ramage said. "They're going to need it. Their mommy's gone."

As for the driver, Ramage hopes he is held accountable for allegedly leaving her daughter. "I want him to pay," she said.