Terrilynn Monette Update: Body ID'd as missing La. teacher, cause of death is drowning, coroner says
(CBS/AP) NEW ORLEANS - The Orleans Parish coroner's office has confirmed through dental records that the body found inside of a car pulled from the bayou in New Orleans is that of missing teacher Terrilynn Monette, CBS affiliate WWLTV reports.
According to the station, the coroner's office has ruled the cause of death drowning.
Monette, 26, had been considered missing since the early hours of March 2 after leaving a New Orleans bar not far from the bayou. She would've had to cross the waterway to get home.
Monette, a Long Beach, Calif., native who moved to Louisiana to teach, worked as a second-grade teacher at Woodland West Elementary School in Harvey, which is located across the Mississippi River form New Orleans. She had come to Louisiana through a program that recruits teachers to area schools and had been nominated for a teacher of the year honor.
Monette's disappearance sparked a broad search handled in part by the Texas group Equusearch. A number of cars were pulled earlier from Bayou St. John as part of the search, some of which had been reported stolen.
Monette's family had been flying back and forth from California to look for her. They attended a prayer vigil Friday and appealed for FBI intervention, accusing the New Orleans Police Department of mishandling the case. The department has denied the accusations.
Toni Enclade, Monette's mother, was present when the car was retrieved from the bayou, according to WWLTV.
The discovery was made by Mark Michaud, a diver with the Slidell Police Department. State Representative Austin Badon said he and Michaud want the $20,000 Crimestoppers reward to go towards Monette's funeral costs, the station reports. Crimestoppers says the reward is only distributed if the New Orleans Police Department determines that foul play was involved. If not, money raised by Monette's family will go back to the family.
Complete coverage of the Terrilynn Monette case on Crimesider