NEW ORLEANS, June 9 (UPI) -- Police in New Orleans said they were trying to determine how missing school teacher Terrilynn Monette ended up in a car at the bottom of a bayou.
The remains of the 26-year-old former California resident were discovered Friday in her car at the bottom of Bayou St. John, nearly 100 days after she was last seen leaving a nightclub where she had been partying with friends.
"Now that Ms. Monette's car has been found, we begin the second phase of this investigation," New Orleans Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said in a written statement this weekend. "Both homicide detectives and our fatality unit were on the scene (Saturday), 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 the target of an intensive search in the weeks after her March 2 disappearance. Bayou St. John was scoured by sonar-assisted divers who pulled several abandoned cars from the water, but found no sign of Monette's Honda.
The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune said Sunday the missing car was found by Mark Michaud, an off-duty police diver from Slidell who late last month offered his services to state Rep. Austin Badon, who represents eastern New Orleans and had been a driving force in the search.
"I have a unique skill I've gotten good at," said Michaud, who heads up the Slidell police dive team. "I didn't want the Monette family to do without it for no reason."
Michaud and Badon researched possible routes Monette could have taken on her way home in March. Michaud set out in his own sonar-equipped boat and discovered the missing car near a bridge on the same street as the bar where she was last seen.
The Times-Picayune said Monette's family was devastated by the discovery and wanted to know why the young woman's car was missed in the initial search.
