Authorities identified the body of a woman found floating in Georgia’s Yellow River as being that of Shanequa Quanee Sullivan, 23, who had gone missing a month before, on February 4
A body discovered in a Georgia river has been identified as a woman with autism who went missing from Atlanta Airport a month ago.
The Newton County Sheriff’s Office said Friday on its Facebook page that the body belonged to 23-year-old Shanequa Quanee Sullivan of Atlanta, Georgia.
Her body was spotted in the Yellow River, in Newton County, Georgia, on March 3.
Pat Campbell made the grizzly discovery while he was fishing for white bass.
‘I motored over it, and I saw the heel of a person, and initially thought it was a mannequin. I got downwind of it and could tell it wasn’t a mannequin and that’s when I said it’s time to call 911,’ Campbell told WSBTV.
Authorities recovered Sullivan’s body the next day, but were unable to ascertain her identity until after an autopsy was performed.
It was not yet clear how Sullivan died and an investigation is ongoing, police said.
Sullivan disappeared four weeks earlier, on February 4, at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where she had worked for the past year in janitorial services.
Sullivan’s grandmother, Celeste Seabrum, told FOX5 Atlanta that surveillance cameras at the airport’s rapid transit stop captured her trying to get on the train, but her transit card was out of credits. That was the last time Sullivan was seen.
Family and friends had been searching for Sullivan near the airport for weeks, but Sullivan was found about 40 miles away from there.
Sullivan’s body was discovered floating in the Yellow River, 40 miles away from where she was last seen, on March 3. A fisherman saw her body and called authorities
Fisherman Pat Campbell made the grizzly discovery. He initially thought he saw a mannequin floating in the river, but closer inspection revealed that it was actually Sullivan’s body
Sullivan was last seen leaving the airport where she worked in janitorial services on February 4. Her family said that she was autistic and had the mental capacity of a 10 year old
Surveillance cameras at the airport’s rapid transit stop captures Sullivan trying to board a train after her shift. It was the last time she was seen alive
Sullivan had autism, which left her with the mental capacity of a 10-year-old, but she had been making enough progress to hold down her job at the airport, her family told 11 Alive.
Seabrum, said her granddaughter ‘wouldn’t hurt a fly’ and was ‘the sweetest person.’
‘She would befriend anybody and I had warned her about that. But I don’t think it kind of clicked in her head,’ Seabrum told 11 Alive.
Tragedy previously struck Sullivan’s family in 2006, when her mother was murdered. Sullivan was 11 years old at the time.