VERNON HILLS, Ill. — A body pulled from a retention pond in a northern Chicago suburb was identified as Brissa Romero, an Illinois teen who went missing last week, authorities said. The girl’s death has been ruled accidental.
According to the Lake County Coroner’s Office, divers pulled the body of the 17-year-old from Carpentersville out of the water in Vernon Hills shortly before 12:30 p.m. CST on Tuesday, WLS-TV reported.
Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said that an autopsy was performed Wednesday morning, the Lake & McHenry County Scanner reported.
The Countryside Fire Protection District led the search-and-recovery efforts to find the teen the day after her 2008 Nissan Rogue was discovered about 60 feet from the bank of the pond, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Police said that Romero was on her way to a holiday party in Vernon Hills on Dec. 4. It was believed that she drove through a T-intersection and into the 2-acre lake that has a depth of approximately 60 feet, the newspaper reported.
The party was being held by Raising Cane’s, the fast-food restaurant chain for whom Romero worked, according to the Tribune. he worked. Her cell phone data was last detected in the area near the pond, police said.
“Video from a nearby fast food restaurant taken shortly before the phone’s last communication with area cell towers suggests Brissa was driving at the time, and there is currently no indication of foul play,” the Carpentersville and Vernon Hills police departments said in a joint news release.
A preliminary autopsy stated that Romero sustained no significant injuries, the Coroner’s office said. Officials said the teen’s death was consistent with drowning, WMAQ-TV reported.
Although the family was hoping that Romero would be found alive, police said finding the teen’s vehicle and backpack in the pond on Monday was a tragic sign, the Tribune reported.
BREAKING: The coroner says an autopsy showed missing 17-year-old Brissa Romero died from drowning after the girl and her car were found in a pond in Vernon Hills. https://t.co/ZyZZiYZu1b
— Lake & McHenry County Scanner (@LMCScanner) December 13, 2023
“Based on the condition of the vehicle and all the evidence we have at this point, it appears that Brissa was in that vehicle when it drove into the lake,” Vernon Hills police Chief Patrick Kreis said at a news conference he held Monday evening with Carpentersville police Chief Todd Shaver, according to the newspaper.
The youngest of five siblings, Romero graduated from Barrington High School last spring, WFLD-TV reported. She attended Harper College and was studying to be a sonogram nurse, according to the television station. She was also working two jobs to pay for school.
