After loved ones and volunteers searched for three days, Niles police believe they’ve found the bodies of two missing South Bend women.
Multiple news outlets reported that police are all but certain the bodies belong to 24-year-old Vanessa Bautista and 23-year-old Alexa Navarro. Police Tuesday night said their clothes matched what the women were last seen wearing, and they were found in their Jeep Cherokee. Police removed them and the submerged vehicle from the St. Joseph River.
In a press conference, Niles police declined to say where their vehicle went into the river but they said they went over an embankment. Video of the car shared by WNDU showed the front end of the car mangled.
The friends went missing after they celebrated a birthday Saturday night at The Arena nightclub in Elkhart. They were last seen in South Bend early Sunday after dropping someone off, and their phones last pinged to an area in Niles around 4 a.m.
Niles police said an autopsy and toxicology will next help their investigation. Both women are survived by young children.
