Missing Illinois Woman, 20, Found Dead of Hypothermia

Published: 3/11/2019, 2:42:31 PM EDT

Missing Illinois Woman, 20, Found Dead of Hypothermia — Brooke Naylor, 20, was found dead on March 8, 2019. (Illinois State Police)

A 20-year-old woman who went missing in Illinois was found dead, police said.

Brooke Naylor vanished on March 3; her car was found abandoned on Eldorado Ridgeway Blacktop but there was no sign of her until her body was found on March 8, in Gallatin County.

Gallatin County Coroner Tony Cox said over the weekend that the cause of death was hypothermia, reported The Southern Illinoisan. He declined to comment otherwise but said toxicology results are expected in about four weeks.

Naylor was a waitress at Morello's Restaurant and Catering.

Kristin Heberer, a colleague, said that Naylor was a hard worker who never missed work without letting them know ahead of time.

"She never did a no-call no-show, and we knew immediately something was wrong," she said.

Robin Wangler, a friend who met Naylor at the restaurant, said that she was the one who reported Naylor missing.

"It was devastation. I can’t even put it into words," she said. Describing Naylor as quirky and smart, she added: "The days that she was gone at work you could feel."

Aisha Brittain, a manager at Morello’s and a work friend of Naylor’s, said that people aren't sure what happened but had a feeling about what took place. “I just feel like she was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said.

Karrigan Bush, another friend and co-worker, told KFVS that Naylor "was always making jokes about something,” Bush said. “She just brought a lot of positivity to Morello’s," Bush added.

A number of customers have come into the restaurant and asked about her in recent days.

“They loved her, they thought she was the cute server, so she had a great smile and great personality. Really good with people,” Brittain said.

Before she was found, Naylor's boyfriend told WSIL that he was last with her at the Walmart in Harrisburg.

He said she was wearing sweatpants with the logo "PINK" emblazoned on them, a light jacket, and house slippers.

Missing Persons

Over 600,000 people go missing in the United States every year, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. Many of the missing adults and children are found safe but others are never found or are found dead. "It is estimated that 4,400 unidentified bodies are recovered each year, with approximately 1,000 of those bodies remaining unidentified after one year," the center stated.

As of Jan. 22, there were 15,325 open missing person cases in addition to 12,449 open unidentified person cases. As of Dec. 31, 2017, the National Crime Information Center had over 88,000 active missing person cases across the country. But hundreds of thousands of cases were resolved that year. Approximately 651,000 missing person records were entered but about the same number were removed.

"Reasons for these removals include: a law enforcement agency located the subject, the individual returned home, or the record had to be removed by the entering agency due to a determination that the record is invalid," the center stated.

The first 72 hours in a missing person case is the most critical, according to criminology experts. That's partly because investigators have the best chance of following up on leads before people's memories start to fade, Dr. Bryanna Fox, former FBI agent and criminology professor at the University of South Florida, told ABC News.

"The information that law enforcement gets tends to be a little more accurate, and they are able to act on the information and hopefully get that person who is missing quicker," Fox said. Later, there are fewer "bread crumbs," or leads, to follow.

Dr. Michelle Jeanis, criminology professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, said that time is of the essence because the missing person could be in danger. After about a week, the person could very likely be dead, said former FBI Special Agent in Charge Steve Gomez.

"There's a certain point after about a week or two where you have to think, the potential that the missing person is dead and now it's a matter of trying to find their body and bring closure to the family and to determine if you now have a homicide investigation, or suicide, or some kind of accidental death," he said.