Today, the New Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office identified the body pulled from the submerged car found in a bayou on Saturday as Terriylnn Monette.
According NOLA.com, chief investigator John Gagliano revealed the 26-year-old woman drowned.
Although toxicology results won’t be available for another two weeks, forensic dentists were able to determine the body’s identity via dental records.
“On behalf of this police department, I want to express my sincerest condolences to Ms. Monette’s family, and assure them that our detectives will do everything they can to find the answers as to how this tragedy happened,” said Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas. “Both homicide detectives and our fatality unit were on the scene today, so that they can pick up where (other) officers have left off and start finding out exactly how and why the car ended up where it did.”
Monette was last seen in the early morning hours of March 2nd. After celebrating her teacher of the year nomination with friends at a bar, Monette decided to take a nap in her car before traveling home. Monette eventually left the parking lot at 5:15 a.m.