Woman's Body Found in Lake 12 Years After Disappearance

Woman's Body Found in Lake 12 Years After Disappearance¹

 The body of a Florida woman who vanished on her way to the airport 12 years ago has been found at the bottom of a lake near her home, police said Friday.

Gail Schoening of Broward County was a month shy of her 36th birthday when she disappeared in April 1997 on her way to catch a flight for a job interview, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.

Schoening's body was found inside her car only about 100 yards from her front door, Plantation² detectives said Friday.

Investigators³ searched several lakes and other bodies of water in the area when Schoening vanished, but the proper technology didn't exist at the time to help counteract⁴ poor visibility.

In July, authorities reopened the case and used more advanced equipment to search water near her apartment. Her body was found Aug. 18 in a lake divers⁵ had scoured⁶ before, her mother Arlene Schoening said.

An investigation⁷ showed Gail Schoening drove through a narrow space and went into the water, the Sentinel reported. The car flipped⁸ upside-down before landing at the bottom of the lake.

Schoening's family has spent the last 12 years following leads in her disappearance.

"We're happy she was found, but sad about the circumstances," Arlene Schoening, of North Brunswick, N.J., said Friday. "We'd been going through all the possibilities."

Schoening was recently divorced when she disappeared, according to the Sentinel. She was on her way to the airport for an interview for a computer database analyst⁹ job in North Carolina

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But the 35-year-old never arrived, and her family and police launched a massive search for her.

A year after she vanished, someone called requesting a PIN number on her 401(k) account in Orlando, raising investigators' suspicions, the Sentinel said. The lead went nowhere, as did other reported sightings and tips.

Early in the investigation, Schoening's parents believed their daughter may have driven into a lake or canal because her 1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse was missing along with her, according to the newspaper.

Despite hiring a pilot to fly over water in the area, the Schoenings never got their theory confirmed — until now.

"It's hard to deal with a lake that's got a lot of silt¹⁰ and mud in it," Plantation police Detective Robert Rettig said Friday. "Visibility was a problem, but we eventually acquired technology that could help us deal with that."

Memorial services will be held Christmas week in Florida, where Schoening's parents plan to move, the Sentinel said.

1 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

2 plantation   

n.种植园，大农场

参考例句：

• His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
• The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。

3 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 counteract   

vt.对…起反作用，对抗，抵消

参考例句：

• The doctor gave him some medicine to counteract the effect of the poison.医生给他些药解毒。
• Our work calls for mutual support.We shouldn't counteract each other's efforts.工作要互相支持，不要互相拆台。

5 divers   

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

• He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人，要他们和他作伴。
• Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作，同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。

6 scoured   

走遍（某地）搜寻（人或物）( scour的过去式和过去分词 )； （用力）刷； 擦净； 擦亮

参考例句：

• We scoured the area for somewhere to pitch our tent. 我们四处查看，想找一个搭帐篷的地方。
• The torrents scoured out a channel down the hill side. 急流沿着山腰冲刷出一条水沟。

7 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

8 flipped   

轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转，撞毁了。
• The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。

9 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

10 silt   

n.淤泥，淤沙，粉砂层，泥沙层；vt.使淤塞；vi.被淤塞

参考例句：

• The lake was almost solid with silt and vegetation.湖里几乎快被淤泥和植物填满了。
• During the annual floods the river deposits its silt on the fields.每年河水泛滥时都会在田野上沉积一层淤泥。