Missouri woman found dead over 5 months after mysteriously vanishing
A woman's remains were discovered in the woods in eastern Missouri, more than five months after she went missing, authorities said.
Emily Strite, 33, was last seen in De Soto, a southeastern city about 45 miles from St. Louis, in early April, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. Detectives said she left the area on foot, apparently of her own free will, in a missing person flier for Strite released later that month. Strite was officially reported missing on April 20.
Law enforcement had asked the public for assistance as their investigation into Strite's disappearance got underway. The sheriff's office in their April bulletin had described her as 5 feet 5 inches tall and said she wore jeans and a dark blue hoodie before she disappeared. Images of Strite appeared in that bulletin alongside the description.
Grant Bissell, the public safety information coordinator at the sheriff's office, told CBS News that authorities had reported Strite's last sighting in Imperial, a St. Louis suburb, in an initial missing person flier but learned later that she was last seen in De Soto. The revised location appeared in an updated bulletin posted several days later.
The owner of a property in De Soto found Strite's body on Saturday, Sept. 28, Jefferson County Sheriff Dave Marshak announced last week.
***UPDATE*** Through investigation, Detectives have learned Emily Strite was last seen on the morning of April 12th in...
Posted by Jefferson County Sheriff's Office on Thursday, April 25, 2024
Deputies responded to a call that Saturday from the De Soto property owner, who reported that human skeletal remains had been discovered in a wooded area, Marshak said. Investigators with the regional medical examiner's office determined the remains belonged to Strite, using medical and dental records to confirm the identity.
Strite's cause of death is still unknown, according to the sheriff, who said investigators were "working to learn how her body ended up where it was found." Bissell told CBS News there was no indication of foul play involved in Strite's disappearance or death.
"That said, this is an ongoing investigation, and our office hopes to uncover the truth about Emily Strite's case," Bissell said in an email.
Authorities have asked anyone with information about the case to contact the detective bureau at the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.
Strite was staying with an acquaintance in De Soto before she disappeared, according to the sheriff's office. Her mother, Charlyn McClain, reported her missing.
McClain told NBC's Dateline she last spoke to her daughter on April 12 and assumed afterward that the 33-year-old had traveled over the Missouri border to Cahokia, Illinois, to visit her children at their father's home. But the father, Steve Fults, called McClain about a week later asking if she had heard from Strite, the mother recalled to Dateline.
"He has never called me and questioned anything about Emily or to tell me anything about Emily," McClain said, according to NBC News. "That's why I panicked when he called me because he had never done that before."
A missing person report for Strite was filed shortly after that.