A body matching the description of a missing Carpentersville teen was found in a Vernon Hills pond, NBC Chicago’s Regina Waldroup reports.
Editor's Note: The Lake County Coroner's Office on Wednesday positively identified the body as 17-year-old Brissa Romero. Our original story continues below.
A body has been recovered from a Vernon Hills pond authorities were searching as part of an investigation into a Carpentersville teen's disappearance last week, police said.
The discovery comes one day after authorities pulled a vehicle belonging to Brissa Romero from the same retention pond, located near Lakeview Parkway and Executive Way in Vernon Hills.
Police said the female body matches Romero's description, though authorities said "formal identification of the remains is pending confirmation" from the Lake County Coroner's office.
According a preliminary investigation, police said evidence suggests the car was "accidentally driven into the pond after the driver failed to navigate the T-intersection."
"Video from a nearby fast food restaurant taken shortly before the phone’s last communication with area cell towers suggests Brissa was driving at the time, and there is currently no indication of foul play," police said in a release.
The footage showed Romero parking her vehicle at the restaurant, entering the building and exiting alone before she got back into car and continued driving, authorities said.
Romero was heading to a work holiday party at Bowlero in Vernon Hills when she went missing on Dec. 4.
No one at the party saw Romero the night she disappeared, police said. Police also noted that Romero's social media accounts showed no outgoing activity since last Monday.
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According to authorities, new cell phone data analysis led officers investigating the disappearance of Romero to the pond located at Lakeview Parkway and Executive Way in Vernon Hills on Monday.
Once there, an officer was approached by a resident who had discovered a backpack floating in the water. Authorities said the backpack belonged to Romero and an intense search then began.
Hours later, a vehicle matching the one Romero was driving the night she went missing was pulled from the water, but police said no body was recovered.
"We are going to continue every effort to do that," Vernon Hills Police Chief Patrick Kreis said in a press conference on Monday.
According to officials, Romero's vehicle was described as a gray 2008 Nissan Rogue, with a sticker of a black coyote and Illinois license plate number CZ64618.
Family members had said the 17-year-old was last captured on traffic cameras in the same area where her vehicle was found — near Town Center Road and Milwaukee Avenue.
“One thing about our family, we all share our locations with our parents,” Jocelyn Rubi Romero told NBC Chicago last week. “She called my mom at 6:55 p.m. and said she was on the way over here, and my mom kept looking at her location, and she was heading over here, but around the time that she arrived, she did not call my mom.”
Prior to Monday's discovery, surveillance cameras captured one of the final images of Romero before her disappearance as she returned to work in Schaumburg to retrieve her iPad around 7 p.m. that evening.
Rubi Romero said they lost Brissa Romero's location after 8 p.m.
According to authorities, Romero doesn’t have a history of mental health challenges or running away from home.
Police said "no further leads relating to Brissa’s whereabouts are being pursued at this time."
"The men and women of both the Carpentersville and Vernon Hills Police Departments worked diligently and with sincere hope for Brissa’s safe return since she was reported missing," the departments said in a release Tuesday. "The Departments thank Brissa’s family, friends, and members of the community who worked to bring awareness to Brissa’s case and offer their deepest condolences to the Romero family."
