Fort Lauderdale Police Confirm Body Found In Car Was Missing Teacher
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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – The Fort Lauderdale Police Department has confirmed on Sunday that they have found the body of a South Florida woman who had been missing for more than a month.
Lisa Hayden-Gordon's vehicle was pulled from the New River at Cooley's landing on Friday afternoon and her body was inside.
This is not the news her family wanted to hear.
"The world will never be the same without her. The thought that we have lost her, I don't know if it sunk in yet," said her sister Susan O'Leary. "To spend 50 years with someone and they are not there anymore."
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Gordon, a 51-year-old musician and piano teacher who went by the nickname Noodles, disappeared on January 24th, after she left a concert at Revolution Live in Downtown Fort Lauderdale. Investigators said she was out drinking with friends the night she disappeared.
Police have not released details about her cause of death, but the family says it appears that no foul play was involved in her disappearance.
"Autopsy is already done and again there is no signs of anything. No trauma, nothing to do. Just an accident," O'Leary told CBS4's Travell Eiland.
Gordon's car and body were found by a private search group who used Sonar to search bodies of water.
The team is based out of Illinois and volunteered to join the search after hearing about Gordon's disappearance on national news.
"The people who spent time doing this for us and for her and the community were fantastic. I am glad it's now and not six months from now that we found the car and I am glad that nobody hurt her," said O'Leary.
Although the family says there are no signs of foul play, Fort Lauderdale police said this remains and open investigation.
Family members say funeral services will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Lauderdale.