The body of a Pennsylvania mother who had been missing for more than two weeks after failing to pick up her son from the bus stop was discovered in a shallow grave wrapped in plastic.
Jennifer Brown, 43, of Limerick Township was located near Royersford, 30 miles northwest of Philadelphia, according to NBC News and the Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele.
No arrests or cause of death have been disclosed by authorities.
Brown was last seen on January 3 at 2:00 p.m. by her friend and business partner, Antonio “Blair” Watts-Richardson, who told NBC10 that he brought her son to his home for a sleepover that night.
“I put Noah on the bus the next day,” he told the outlet.
But Brown never arrived at the stop to pick up Noah. Officials said that her keys, wallet, and work cellphone were discovered in her vehicle outside her Stratford Court residence.
NBC10 stated that her personal phone has not been located or used since the morning of January 4.
Watts-Richardson informed the media outlet a week ago that Brown was planning to launch a restaurant while dealing with family and work issues.
He said on Wednesday that he had “nothing to do with anything” related to her abduction and death.
“Just because I’m the last person to see her, that does not mean anything,” he told the Philly station.
“It seems like I’m being the one poked at. And it’s frustrating because I’m the first person that was the one calling the police, trying to kick down windows. Trying to find my friend. Trying to make sure her son is covered,” he said.
The corpse of Brown, which was discovered in a Royersford industrial complex, was to be transferred to the coroner’s office, where an autopsy would be conducted.
“I can’t tell you how many people have worked through this and helped,” Steele told reporters Wednesday after the gruesome discovery.
“We hoped and prayed she would be safe, and she is not,” he added as he described Brown as a “devoted mother of an 8-year-old boy.”
He said that “by all accounts, she would have never left him unattended and unsupervised.”
Tiffany Barron, Brown’s closest friend, told NBC10 that the deceased woman was a “doting” mother.
“I call her helicopter mom. She loves her son. She would never leave her son,” she told the news outlet.
Billy Jo Salkowski, a neighbor of Brown, expressed relief that this phase of the inquiry is over, but he wants justice for the murdered mother.
“I have been praying for her. My daughter’s family has been praying for her. I am very religious, and I hope to God she’ll be at peace,” Salkowski told WPVI-TV.
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