The Wisconsin graduate student who mysteriously vanished after leaving a waterfront bar in Wisconsin early Sunday was found dead in the Mississippi River on Wednesday.
Eliotte Heinz, 22, was discovered in the river just before 10:30 a.m. near Brownsville, Minnesota — more than 10 miles from where she was last seen — following an exhaustive, four-day search, authorities said.
“This was not the outcome we had hoped for throughout this search,” La Crosse Police Chief Shawn Kudron said in a statement.
Security footage caught her about an hour later walking near the Mississippi River waterfront, about a 30-minute walk from the bar — the last time she was seen.
The missing student’s loved ones, who reported her missing Sunday morning after several failed attempts to contact her, launched a frantic search around town with help from police and community volunteers.
The family also pleaded with those living in the areas where she was seen to review their security camera footage from the early hours of Sunday.
Heinz’s cellphone was reportedly found by her friends during the desperate search that saw police and volunteers scouring the banks of the Mississippi River near where she was last seen and the area around her apartment.
Viterbo University said the school would hold a memorial service for Eliotte in the fall, in coordination with the victim’s family, when students return to campus.
“There are no words that can ease the pain of losing someone so young, with so much life ahead of her,” Viterbo University president Dr. Rick Trietley said in a statement.
“Our hearts go out to Eliotte’s family. We hold them in our prayers and stand with them in their grief.”
Her heartbroken mother, Amber, told “Fox & Friends” earlier Wednesday that her missing daughter was “beautiful inside and out.”
“She has got the biggest heart and unending kindness for everyone,” the devastated mom said.
