The remains of a missing mother-of-four have been found near her home in Florida.
44-year-old Tracey Lynn Rieker disappeared in the early hours of September 30. Her body was found inside her Nissan Xterra in a pond not far from their home.
According to police, the mother’s vehicle was discovered in a pond nearby Knight’s Trail. They confirmed that they are treating the case as a traffic homicide.
“Inside the vehicle was a deceased female, believed to be that of Tracey Lynn Rieker, 44, missing from her Venice home since Sept. 30,” police said in a statement.
“Authorities are in the process of recovering the vehicle at this time. The case is being investigated as a traffic crash that involved death of an involved party. An investigation continues to determine Rieker’s cause of death.”
Rieker’s grieving husband, Christian, said his wife experienced difficulty sleeping and was not eating enough before she vanished in the middle of the night.
He told Fox 13: “[She was] really focused on her religious outreach, and so when we woke up [and] the car was gone and she was gone… we just called the authorities.”
He continued: “This is completely opposite of who Tracey is. It’s alarming. We are concerned about what mindset she’s in.
“I actually called her phone thinking that she’d have it and then noticed it was ringing in the house.”
A family representative, Jennifer Irvine, also said that in addition to trouble sleeping, the mother-of-four had been ‘fasting for religious purposes.’
After the discovery of the mother’s body, the heartbroken family said in a statement: “Our family is grateful for the outpouring of support and donations of both time and resources in the search for Tracey.
“The outcome of the investigation is shocking and devastating, and we wish this could have been investigated sooner to bring needed closure for the family.
“At this time, we are grieving as an extended and cohesive family unit, and request privacy while we work through this.”
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Replaced!