Niles police say they’re still considering the possibility of foul play in the recent deaths of two South Bend women found in the St. Joseph River. Police Chief James Millin says he hopes to release some news on the case this week.
Millin says he realizes there’s heavy public interest in the recent deaths of 24-year-old Vanessa Bautista and 23-year-old Alexa Navarro. After all, he’s been interviewed by People magazine.
He says his detectives are still running down leads.
”Unfortunately it doesn’t come in as quickly as people would sometimes like or what you watch on a TV show," he says.
Millin says the friends had gone to the Arena nightclub in Elkhart to celebrate a birthday, drove back to South Bend, and then drove up to Niles because they were hungry and it was near 4 a.m. One of the women, Millin didn’t say whom, reportedly had a boyfriend or father of her child who lives near the Hardings’ supermarket in Niles.
“The meeting I’m going into is with investigators to find out what they’ve learned over the weekend, what additional information they have," Millan said Monday morning. "There’s been speculation that the girls were followed or chased. Certainly people turn that into, well they were forced off the road. So those are all things we’re looking into but at this point, it’s purely speculation.”
