Police say the remains of a Christina Allen, the 23-year-old who was kidnapped in 2014, were found in a field in Texas
Police confirmed that human remains discovered in a Texas field are that of Christina Morris, the 23-year-old who disappeared after being kidnapped in 2014.
Morris went missing at the Shops at Legacy in Plano on August 30, 2014.
The discovery was made around 10am Wednesday by a crew clearing trees on private land in Anna, Texas.
Late Thursday Chief Gregory Rushin announced that the medical examiner positively identified the remains as Morris’ family stood beside him during a press conference.
The crews ‘notified the Plano Police Department because of our continuing efforts to find Christina Morris,’ Rushin said at the conference, according to KHOU.
Jonni Hare, Morris’ mother, thanked police and volunteers who worked to help search for her daughter after the disappearance.
‘This, I must say, is the most difficult day that I’ve ever faced in my entire life,’ she said. ‘I know my daughter – I know our daughter – is in a better place. I know she’s in heaven. I know she’s proud of us for not giving up. I know she’s smiling.’
The discovery was made around 10am Wednesday by a crew clearing trees on private land in Anna, Texas, according to Dallas News
As soon as it was discovered they were human remains a team of law enforcement officers were called into the scene
Earlier Thursday her mother arrived at the site where Morris was found, in the wooded area along Taylor Road, and left flowers.
When the remains were first discovered, one of the many volunteers who spent countess hours in a massive search for the young woman when she first went missing, said recovering her body would at least help the family heal.
‘Well, if she’s gone, we want this to be her,’ a volunteer said. ‘I don’t know how else to put it because her family needs closure.’
Groups had searched the wooded area before based on information gathered during the investigation.
Enrique Arochi was convicted of kidnapping her in 2016 and sentenced to life in prison.
The 27-year-old was acquaintances with Morris, and agreed to walk her back to the car at the in the shopping center after a party near there.
Arochi was seen in surveillance video that night with Morris at about 4am in a parking garage near the shopping mall. The same footage never showed her drive out of the garage.
He was arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping after her DNA was found in the trunk of his car.
Enrique Arochi was convicted of kidnapping her in 2016 and sentenced to life in prison
The 27-year-old was acquaintances with Morris, and agreed to walk her back to the car at the in the shopping center after a party near there. Surveillance video shows him walking her back to her car, but she was never seen leaving the lot
Arochi said Morris was never in his car, but police believe she might have been inside when he was pulling away from the garage in the early hours of that morning.
The last 15 calls on her cell phone, which was either turned off of dead, were to her boyfriend and police said there was no sign of foul play or a struggle near her car.
Police also had a video of him examining parts of his car at a grocery store in Allen just hours after Morris was last ween.
Evidence at his trial, which started after he was arrested in December, 2014, showed he was in Anna a day after Morris went missing.
Since then her family and other volunteers, who have not given up hope of finding their daughter, have honed in their search on the area.
They returned nearly every week to conduct a new sweep of the town.