Terrilyn Monette Update: Search for missing NOLA teacher continues
(CBS/NOLA.com) NEW ORLEANS-- The search for missing Harvey school teacher Terrilyn Monette continued on Sunday after authorities were forced off Bayou St. John on Friday and Saturday due to thunderstorms, reported Nola.com.
While the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has drudged up 17 cars from the waterway, none of them are the black Honda Accord that belonged to Monette, said the website.
Also according to the site, Louisiana state representative Austin Badon, who has been leading the search, called for a nationwide effort to commence, stating that he thought the chance of Monette remaining in New Orleans was slim.
Badon told Nola.com, "We have looked in the greater metropolitan area for her person and car and have found neither. What that says, through a process of elimination, is that there is a greater likelihood that she is not in the New Orleans area."
The site reported that while the FBI has been helping with the search, the New Orleans Police Department has been the primary authority leading the investigation. Because there is no clear indication that Monette was abducted, the FBI has not yet taken charge.
As of last Friday, Monette has been missing for ten weeks, reported Nola.com. She was last seen at around 5 a.m. as she was leaving a bar called Parlay's Dream Lounge on March 2. In order to get home she would have had to cross the bayou.
Badon told the website that he has been in touch with Monette's mother who lives in Los Angeles.
"She is extremely distraught," Badon said. "I had to let her know we are going to be looking for her daughter in remote locations, underneath bodies of water. The worst part is that she has no answers. She doesn't know whether her daughter is alive or deceased."
Police are focusing their search in the City Park area of New Orleans, where Monette was last seen. They are also searching nearby bodies of water, reported Nola.com.
Complete coverage of the Terrilynn Monette case on Crimesider