The body of 22-year-old Eliotte Heinz, a Wisconsin graduate student who vanished over the weekend, has been recovered from the Mississippi River, authorities confirmed Wednesday morning.
Heinz, a student in Viterbo University’s mental health counseling program, was last seen around 3:22 a.m. Sunday as she walked alone near the waterfront in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Surveillance footage from outside the Courtyard Marriott Hotel showed her wearing a white t-shirt, cut-off denim shorts, and white sneakers, holding what appeared to be a cellphone.
Her body was discovered near Brownsville, Minnesota — just across the state border — after an extensive multi-day search that involved drones, dive teams, and dozens of volunteers.
“This was not the outcome we had hoped for throughout this search,” La Crosse Police Chief Shawn Kudron said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with Eliotte’s family, friends, and all those who knew her. We are grateful for the outpouring of support from the La Crosse community, the State of Wisconsin, and beyond.”
The cause of death has not yet been determined pending autopsy results, and investigators are now focusing on piecing together what happened during the final moments of Heinz’s life.
Heinz was last seen alive about 50 minutes after leaving Bronco’s Bar in downtown La Crosse around 2:30 a.m., shortly after it closed. It’s unclear where she went in that nearly hour-long window before she appeared on hotel surveillance. The distance between the bar and the hotel is only about 0.4 miles.
Her friends later found her cellphone near the Courtyard Marriott, and when Heinz failed to return home or answer calls on Sunday morning, her family reported her missing.
Heinz’s mother, Amber Heinz, said her daughter had been walking to her apartment when she disappeared — a route that should have taken roughly 30 minutes.
“She was responsible, kind, and deeply loved,” the Heinz family said in a statement. “Her sudden disappearance was completely out of character. This nightmare has shaken us to the core.”
At a press conference Monday, her brother Brett Heinz fought back tears. “This is tearing our family apart,” he said. “Everyone is just really messed up right now. We need to find her.”
That plea has now turned into mourning, as the search ends in tragedy and questions remain unanswered. La Crosse police say the investigation into the circumstances of Eliotte Heinz’s death is ongoing.