TAMPA, Fla. — Authorities in Alabama have confirmed a body found Wednesday is believed to belong to an elderly Tampa woman missing since 2019.
The Etowah County Sheriff's Office held a news conference Friday morning, during which Sheriff Jonathon W. Horton said he believed 84-year-old Lorene Virginia Collier had been found.
Horton expressed condolences to Collier's family members, some of whom were at the sheriff's office for the announcement.
Glencoe Police Kenon McKenzie said there was a break in the case Wednesday morning when rabbit hunters found Collier's blue Kia Optima on land they had leased in the woods off a road in Collinsville, Alabama. They alerted deputies, who confirmed the Florida license plate.
Investigators say Collier's purse, wallet, driver's license and some clothes were found near the car.
McKenzie said authorities met with the hunters and began making their way out to the car. Along the way, they found skeletal remains.
To be clear: The body and car were found in a part of Alabama that had not been previously searched. The discovery was made 12-13 miles up a road in an area that "nobody would have thought she would have went" and more than 10 miles from Collier's brother's home, McKenzie said.
Collier was last seen on March 5, 2019. She'd had left Tampa and headed toward Glencoe. She planned to visit her brother for his birthday before continuing on to Gadsden, but she never arrived.
Her car had some damage, and investigators say it appears she may have hit some trees and become stuck.
"The case is still under investigation. At this time, we do not suspect that it was foul play. So no one in that area is in any type of harm's way," McKenzie told reporters.
The coroner was dispatched to the woods. While the Alabama Department of Forensic Science in Huntsville is working to formally confirm the bones were Collier's, law enforcement officials confirmed they were confident her identity would be verified. McKenzie said he hoped this development would bring closure to Collier's family.
At the time of her disappearance, The Gadsden Times reports Collier didn't have her cell phone on her, so her family didn't immediately realize she was missing.