E-Paper
Body found face down in Puerto Rico river during search for missing Indiana teacher Amanda Lynn Webster
Amanda Lynn Webster disappeared from her Airbnb on a trip to the island, and was reported missing last week
A body has been found during the search for an Indiana teacher who had gone missing. The body was reportedly found face down in a river in Puerto Rico. 44-year-old Amanda Lynn Webster disappeared from her Airbnb on a trip to the island, and was reported missing last week. Amanda was an art teacher at the Thompson Crossing Elementary School in Indianapolis, and also worked with special-education students at Franklin Township schools.
According to an English translation of a local police statement on Facebook, “The body was found upside down floating in a rocky area of the river, so the CIC team of the Police, along with the Prosecutor's Office and staff of the Forensic Institute are working on the extraction and identification process of it. At this stage it is not possible to identify the gender of the body or conclude if it shows signs of violence.”
Late last week, Police Commissioner Antonio Lopez Figueroa activated an “Ashanti Alert” asking for people’s help in the search for Amanda. She was last seen at Casa Parcha guest house near El Yunque National Park in Naguabo.
“Since last Wednesday, a contingent of agents from the Criminal Investigations Corps (CIC) of the Police, attributed to Humacao, supported by State Emergency Management personnel, from the municipality of Naguabo and Bayamón. The U.S. Forest Service came together to support the search in the wooded area, where she was spotted by a citizen,” the post says.
Is the body Amanda Lynn Webster’s?
Although the statement says the body has not been identified, sources close to Amanda’s family told Fox 59 that the body was hers. “I’m just happy she was found and that her family, her students and the community and all her friends can have some form of closure even though it’s pretty earth shattering,” Amanda’s friend Sharon Rickson told WTHR. “There’s hundreds if not thousands of lives she directly impacted. A lot of people are going to be feeling this loss.”
“She was such a force. She was such a positive force. You would feel her presence and her warmth immediately. She gave the best hugs,” Sharon added. “She was very unique, happy-go-lucky, never met a stranger and absolutely beautiful radiant personality. We are really going to miss her.”
