Body pulled from river believed to be NC woman missing since Halloween, officials say
A body recovered from a river is believed to be a North Carolina woman missing since Halloween, officials said.
Ricki Ortega-Cooney, 47, was reported missing from the South Tryphosa and Otto area of Macon County in Western North Carolina on Oct. 31, according to a news release from the Macon County Sheriff’s Office.
Her whereabouts were unknown, officials said, and her family was “very concerned about her.”
Later on Oct. 31, the sheriff’s office said it found her abandoned vehicle near the Little Tennessee River.
The body of a “deceased female” was then found in the river on Nov. 2, about a mile downstream from where the vehicle had been found, according to the sheriff’s office.
“While a positive identification will be made later this week following an autopsy, based on photographs of the missing woman we believe the deceased female is the missing Ricki Ortega-Cooney,” the sheriff’s office said.
The sheriff’s office said “death notification to the family has been made.”
Officials are investigating the case, the sheriff’s office said, and no other information had been released as of Nov. 3.
Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s office’s Criminal Investigations Division at 828-349-2076.
“On behalf of the MCSO we wish to extend our sincere thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of Mrs. Cooney during this difficult time for those who loved her,” the sheriff’s office said.
Macon County borders Georgia and is near the Tennessee border, about 195 miles west of Charlotte. The Little Tennessee River flows into North Carolina from Georgia and into the Tennessee River in Lenoir City, Tennessee.
