The family of a missing Boston mother says her body was found Thursday in the car of the man accused of kidnapping her, reports CBS Boston. Jassy Correia was last seen early Sunday morning at a nightclub in Boston’s Theater District, where she had been celebrating her 23rd birthday with friends.
Boston Police say she was seen getting into a car with a man they identified as 32-year-old Louis Coleman III, who they believe kidnapped her.
Police released video and photos of Coleman, who lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and his car in the hopes that the public could help find them. Coleman was reportedly arrested Thursday afternoon on a fugitive charge after he was pulled over on a Delaware highway.
Boston Police confirmed to CBS Boston a body was discovered in the trunk of Coleman’s car, the station reports, but they say they are awaiting identification. Correia’s brother told reporters the body is Jassy Correia, reports CBS affiliate WPRI-TV.
The woman’s cousin Katia DePina told CBS Boston her family is devastated.
“She was a mother. She was brave. She was strong. She did not deserve this,” DePina said. “She went out to celebrate her birthday and never returned home.”
WPRI reports police searched Coleman’s condominium complex in Providence in connection to Correia’s disappearance. Providence Police Capt. Hugh Clements Jr. said at a news conference Thursday night that the case is being treated as a homicide investigation.
Clements wouldn’t detail what, if anything, investigators uncovered.
Coleman was arraigned at midnight in Delaware and is charged there as a “fugitive from another state,” reports CBS Boston. He waived his right to an extradition hearing and will be transported back to Rhode Island, where he is expected to face charges of kidnapping, refusal to report a death with intent to conceal a crime and mutilation of a dead human body, the station reports.
The Correia family has set up a GoFundMe page to help Jassy Correia’s two-year-old daughter, CBS Boston reports.
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Speaking at a press conference, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh called Coleman an “animal.” He said the case was a “horrible tragedy for the city of Boston” and said he planned to visit the Correia family home in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood Friday.
“The pain that we feel as a city right now is real as we mourn the loss of a young life that was taken too soon. My heart breaks for Jassy’s family and friends, and her young daughter,” Walsh said in a tweet.
