From the Daily Mail: Police have found the body of a Wisconsin graduate student who went missing three days ago as she walked home along the Mississippi River.
Eliotte Heinz, 22, vanished in the early hours of Sunday after leaving a bar in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Her body was found Wednesday morning in the Mississippi River near Brownsville, Minnesota, as reported by WBAY.
A cause of death remains unclear pending an autopsy, according to officials.
La Crosse Police Chief Shawn Kudron said, “This was not the outcome we had hoped for throughout this search. Our thoughts are with Eliotte’s family, friends and all those who knew Eliotte. We are grateful for the outpouring of support from so many within the La Crosse community, the State of Wisconsin and nationally to locate Eliotte.”
Heinz, a graduate student, was enrolled in the mental health counseling program at Viterbo College in La Crosse. She had reportedly been out with friends at a bar, but left at 2:30 a.m. when the bar closed.
She was last seen on surveillance video walking alone along the waterfront at 3:22 a.m. Sunday, outside the Courtyard Marriott Hotel. She appears to be holding her cellphone in her hand.
Friends of Heinz later discovered her phone near the hotel, but she was no where to be found.
The bar and the hotel are less than one-half a mile apart, so it is unknown exactly where Heinz went during that 40-minute period.
When her family couldn’t reach her by phone later Sunday morning, they called authorities, knowing something had to be wrong.
Her body was found around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in the Mississippi River near Brownsville, Minnesota, which is over 12 miles away from where she was last seen in La Crosse.
Viterbo University announced the tragic news in a Facebook post Wednesday afternoon:
Authorities recovered the body of Eliotte Heinz, a 22-year-old graduate student from Viterbo University, from the Mississippi River after she vanished while walking home from a La Crosse bar. pic.twitter.com/Xa28E5rCaL
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 23, 2025
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