Officials Identify Woman's Body Found In Neuse River
Posted May 5, 2005 4:18 a.m. EDT
SMITHFIELD, N.C. — The state Medical Examiner's office has identified a body found in the Neuse River, but has not said how the victim died.
A fisherman found the body of April Messer, 24, of Four Oaks, on Friday in the Neuse River.
Police say Messer, a mother of two boys, was never reported missing.
"They approached us and said they hadn't seen their daughter in a week or two when they heard a female body had been located in the river," Smithfield Police Capt. Bruce Gentry said.
Messer's family told investigators it was not unusual for them to not talk with Messer for a week or more.
The funeral home that took the body says the medical report shows Messer died April 16 -- two weeks before she was found in the river.
"Did anyone have a motivation to injure her? That's something we are looking at," Gentry said.
For now Smithfield police are still calling this a death investigation, but they say they cannot yet rule out foul play, suicide or the possibility this was just an accident.
Police did not say how Messer died.
