The body of a Maine mother missing since last week in New Hampshire was found Wednesday near a lake, authorities there said, labeling her death “suspicious.”
Krista Dittmeyer, 20, went missing on Friday after her car was found in a parking lot with her baby daughter inside. She was found Wednesday at Duck Pond, in the eastern section of the state, Jane Young, a spokeswoman from the New Hampshire’s Attorney Generals Office said.
The body was found by divers in a retaining pond about a quarter-mile from where her car was found idling Saturday in the parking lot of Cranmore Mountain ski area in Conway, a town of 10,000 people.
An autopsy is expected and authorities hope to determine Dittmeyer’s cause of death, Young said.
Police on Wednesday morning pushed media back from the area of the retaining pond, but a hearse was seen arriving nearby late afternoon.
Police reportedly received a call from a passerby at around 6:30 a.m. Saturday who reported Dittmeyer’s car in the Cranmore Mountain resort parking lot in Conway, N.H., with its hazard lights blinking and door slightly ajar. The young woman’s 14-month-old daughter was unharmed in the backseat, but Dittmeyer was nowhere to be found.
Authorities had been scouring the area in hopes of finding the woman alive.
Police received a call from a passerby at around 6:30 a.m. Saturday who reported Dittmeyer’s car in the Cranmore Mountain resort parking lot in Conway, N.H., with its hazard lights blinking and door slightly ajar. The young woman’s 14-month-old daughter was unharmed in the backseat, but Dittmeyer was nowhere to be found.
During the investigation, police told FoxNews.com that it appeared Dittmeyer did not leave her car willingly.
On Tuesday, Conway Police Lt. Christopher Perley said police obtained warrants to search two vehicles – one Dittmeyer’s black Nissan Sentra — for clues in the case. He would not elaborate on the second vehicle being investigated. He also would not confirm whether blood was found in the vehicle, saying the Conway Police Department “does not comment on specific pieces of evidence.”
Perley said police don’t know why Dittmeyer, who lived in Portland, Maine, drove to Conway, but noted that the young woman had a “number of social contacts” in the area.
The woman’s sister, Kayla Dittmeyer, told the Portland Press Herald that she believes someone forced her sister out of the car and that her sister persuaded that person to leave her daughter behind.
Dittmeyer’s mother is caring for 14-month-old Aliyah in Bridgton, Maine, where Dittmeyer grew up, about 25 miles from Conway. Family and friends days ago scheduled a candlelight vigil there Thursday to pray for her safe return.
FN
