26-year-old Terrilyn Monette, who has been missing for more than three months, was found dead in her car after divers located it in Bayou St. John Saturday afternoon. The Orleans Parish Coroner's Office confirmed the identity on Monday.

Toxicology results are still pending. The coroner's report says Monette died from an apparent drowning. Also, according to this article, there were no signs of pending trauma.

According to this article, Monette went missing on March 2 after leaving Parlay’s Dream Lounge, a Lakeview bar. Other cars have been pulled out of nearby water bodies over the past few weeks, before New Orleans Police realized they had not found the missing teacher they were trying to find.

"I don't understand why it took them so long to find her car," Monette’s mother, Toni Enclade said between tears. "This is supposedly one of the first places they would have checked. I'm just overwhelmed. It doesn't make sense."

This was an effort that gained national attention, as well as the attention of New Orleans Rep. Austin Badon, who spearheaded car retrieval and other efforts and got “to know the family extremely well.”

Monette, a California native, was a second-grade teacher at Woodland West Elementary School in Harvey.

 

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