The devastated family of Wisconsin grad student Eliotte Heinz said they will “forever have a missing piece” in their hearts after she turned up dead in the Mississippi River, a tragic end to a frantic, four-day search.
Heinz vanished early Sunday while walking home from a night out with her friends in downtown La Crosse, Wisconsin. Officials finally found her body on Wednesday near Brownsville, Minnesota — more than 10 miles from where she was last seen.
“Eliotte’s walk home is finished. Unfortunately, our family’s walk down this new hard path is just beginning,” her family wrote in a heart-wrenching statement, WISN reported.
“We love you, Eliotte,” they said.
Eliotte Heinz disappeared while walking home from a bar on Sunday morning. Facebook / Eliotte HeinzHeinz, a graduate student at Viterbo University, had been at the Bronco Bar in the college town with her friends, who said she left to go home around 2:30 a.m. Sunday. Roughly 50 minutes later, she was caught on security footage walking down a road near the Mississippi River waterfront.
She never made it back to her residence and, after friends and family were unable to contact her, police and community volunteers launched a massive, days-long search.
Her body was discovered 10 miles downriver Wednesday morning.
La Crosse police said the investigation will remain active as they await autopsy results for an official cause of death.
“Eliotte is a beautiful person,” her family recalled. “She was smart, funny, caring, and loved fiercely by us. We don’t know why we were so blessed to have her as a daughter or why we are unable to keep her. She is amazing and would have continued to amaze us. We are devastated that she is no longer with us. Our family will forever have a missing piece.”
Heinz’s heartbroken family thanked the community for their support. WXOW
Heinz’s body was recovered from the Mississippi River on Wednesday, about 10 miles from where she was last seen. WKBT
Heinz was studying mental health at Viterbo University in La Crosse. La Crosse Police Department“We cannot thank our family, friends, the La Crosse community, Viterbo University, or the La Crosse PD enough for showing up for Elliotte. They were an amazing light in an incredibly dark space.”
Heinz was enrolled in Viterbo University’s mental health counseling program, according to her mother, Amber.
The school said it would hold a memorial service for Heinz in the fall when students return to campus.
“There are no words that can ease the pain of losing someone so young, with so much life ahead of her,” Viterbo University president Dr. Rick Trietley said in a statement.
