Texas authorities said Friday that a body found decomposing in a field earlier this week is that of missing 14-year-old Adriana Coronado, ending the search that started when police found her father dead from a gunshot wound in a rural area.
Houston police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said Adriana’s body was found in west Houston on Wednesday afteoon. The body was lying in an open field a few feet from the road. Adriana was identified through fingerprint verification by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.
Walker County Sheriff Clint McRae told KTRK-TV a bracelet was the first clue the remains might be the missing ninth grader.
The teenager had been shot multiple times, the station reported.
The owner of a nearby home and a gardener found the body, the Houston Chronicle reported.
The homeowner told the paper pajamas and slippers still clothed the body.
Adriana was last seen Saturday in the Houston suburb of Texas, where she lived. Investigators believe that she may have been with her father, Cesar Vladimir Coronado, when he was killed.
Cesar Coronado’s body was found Sunday in Walker County, about 80 miles north of Houston. His bued pickup truck was found near Conroe, 45 miles south of his body.
Caesar and Adriaa Coronado Investigation
BREAKING: Here is a video released by the Walker County Sheriff's Office related to the Caesar and Adriana Coronado investigation. The person in this video is believed to be coected to Caesar's murder. The Hispanic male suspect is seen leaving the scene where Caesar's truck was found near Interstate 45 and Enterprise Row in Conroe on March 13. You caot see the suspect's face, but investigators want you to pay close attention to his profile and the way he walks. Anyone with information should contact the Walker County Sheriff’s Office at 936-435-2400.
Posted by The Huntsville Item on Thursday, March 17, 2016
The Walker County Sheriff’s Office released a surveillance video Thursday of a person of interest in the case. The video showed an unidentified heavyset man leaving the father’s truck in Conroe Sunday night.
The truck is then driven off screen and a few second later, a bust of light can be seen coming from the direction of the truck. Authorities believe the burst of light was when the truck was set on fire. The man can be seen ruing away from the buing truck and then ruing down an alley.
Walker County Sheriff Clint McRae said that while the unidentified man's face is not clear on the video, he is hoping someone might be able to identify him by looking at his build, the way he was dressed or how he walks and runs.
"This is going to be crucial in solving this case," McRae said.
Investigators said the man might have been picked up by a dark-colored SUV.
McRae has said that investigators don't have a motive in the case and don't know what the father was doing in Walker County.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.