Despite several reports to the contrary, authorities have not yet identified a woman’s body that was found Sunday along the banks of the Escambia River in Florida.
Major Heath Jackson of the Escambia County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office said Monday night that reports of the body having been identified as that of 74-year-old Pollard resident Eva McBride, who has been missing from her Pollard home since November 24, are inaccurate.
An autopsy is being conducted by the state crime lab to determine the body’s identity and cause of death.
According to published reports, Santa Rosa County (Fla.) dispatchers received a call around 11 a.m. Sunday from a person who reported finding a body of a female along the river’s banks, near Jay. The remains were discovered roughly a mile south of Terrell Landing Boat Ramp, authorities reported.
The search for McBride was initiated when one of her daughters contacted the Escambia County (Alabama) Sheriff’s Office after her mother didn’t show up to help clean their church on November 24.
The probe into McBride’s disappearance was recently shifted from a missing-persons case to a criminal investigation.