Body found in search for missing Va. firefighter
LURAY, Va. -- A body has been found near a trail in the Shenandoah National Park amid an intense search for missing Virginia firefighter Nicole Mittendorff, reports CBS affiliate WUSA9.
Virginia State Police say troopers have preliminarly identified the body found in the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia as that of the paramedic-firefighter who disappeared a week ago.
Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said in an email late Thursday that the body is likely 31-year-old Nicole Mittendorff of Woodbridge, Virginia.
Geller says the Virginia medical examiner will have to confirm the identity, and the body was taken to the chief medical examiner's office in Manassas, Virginia.
The ground search for Mittendorff was called off about 2 p.m. Thursday after the remains were found in a remote location more than a mile from the Whiteoak Canyon parking area, the National Park Service and Virginia State Police said in a news release.
Mittendorff's sister, Jennifer Clardy Chalmers, said in a statement that the family believes Mittendorff has been found, but not in the way they had anticipated.
Geller says evidence collected during the investigation, including a note found in her car, leads troopers to believe that foul play is not involved in Mittendorff's death.
Mittendorff last had contact by text message with her family last Wednesday. That day, she called in sick before her shift at work, reports WUSA. She was reported missing on Friday when she didn't show up for work at station 32 in Fairfax County, Va.
Family members had previously said she is an avid runner and tri-athlete who might have been training in the park.
The search for Mittendorf had stretched into its sixth day before the discovery of the remains. Hundreds of people fanned out across the remote area in a grid search over the rugged terrain, the station reports.