Breaking News: Michelle Gardner-Quinn

The body of missing University of Vermont student, Michelle Gardner-Quinn, has reportedly been found, but details are sketchy and reports vary as to the recovery site. Investigators have been excavating a construction site in a residential yard a few blocks from the jewelry store address where Michelle was last seen. Construction workers indicated that they were focusing on an area where concrete was poured on Monday.

Earlier, authorities had cordoned off at least half a block in a residential Burlington neighborhood several blocks south of where Gardner-Quinn was last seen. They were concentrating on a stately, three-story, red brick home, where there has been construction on an addition.

A backhoe could be seen in the yard, but police were keeping a crowd of media well away from the scene and were declining to comment.

The Burlington Free Press, citing construction workers who declined to be identified, reported on its Web site that digging was to concentrate on a hole behind the house where concrete was poured on Monday.

WCAX reported that a man who had been a subcontractor on the job was the person whose phone Gardner-Quinn had used as she walked toward her dorm.

No arrests have been reported, but police have searched the vehicle of the man who loaned his cell phone. [Source: The Boston Globe]

In addition, a swimming hole near Richmond was also being searched today. Vermont's WCAX-TV is reporting that a female body found near the popular swimming area of Huntington Gorge is that of Michelle.

A sad ending to an exhaustive search. Channel 3 News has learned that police have found the body of Michelle Gardner-Quinn, the missing UVM student.

Official sources tell us that her body was found Friday near the Huntington Gorge in Richmond. We are told it was not in the gorge, but along Dugway Road.

Police have not yet confirmed that report but are expected to hold a press conference this afternoon.


Update: 4:15 pm, CT

It's official:

Burlington Deputy Police Chief Michael Schirling says a woman's body has been recovered in a town east of Burlington. He has confirmed that the remains are those of missing University of Vermont student Michelle Gardner-Quinn. [Source: KDKA.com]

CourtTV is reporting that police have released the name of the man seen in the video with Michelle Gardner-Quinn. He is 36-year-old Brian Rooney. He has been arrested on unrelated charges and is now a suspect in Ms. Gardner-Quinn's death.

The Interactive Map has been updated with Dugway Road marked with placemark #8.

Michelle Gardner-Quinn

Michelle Gardner-Quinn was reported missing on Saturday, October 7, after failing to show up to a dinner date with her parents who were in town for Parents' Weekend at the University of Vermont. She had been out with friends at a bar near campus the night before and was last seen around 2:15 am walking toward campus with a man her friends described as a "random guy". Shortly after first hearing about the disappearance, a friend and I began discussing the reported details of the case. I chose not to write an entry because my own hopeful theory was that Michelle had gone missing voluntarily, perhaps in reaction to mounting stress in her academic and personal life. I saw no value in publicly discounting the plausible seriousness of the situation, preferring instead to keep an eye on reports and hope that Michelle would soon be found alive and well. Unfortunately, as details continue to emerge, it appears that my early speculation was wrong. I now believe that the abduction and/or demise of Michelle Gardner-Quinn is all too genuine. Burlington Police and the FBI are diligently gathering tips, collecting every grain of potential evidence, and following each lead in striving to locate the 21-year-old.

Wednesday, new information was released by the Burlington Police Department. Investigators are requesting help from the public in gathering information about a person who has become a "significant focus" of the investigation. Images captured by a jewelry store surveillance camera display Michelle walking eastbound on Main Street, in the company of the "random guy" she was reported last seen with by friends. The young man, who had earlier loaned her the use of his cell phone, is described as a thirty-something white male, 5' 9" to 5' 11" in height, weighing between 170 and 190 pounds and wearing dark blue jeans and a dark-colored zip-up fleece shirt. Police are not seeking to identify the man, but to locate anyone who may have seen him in the area that night. It appears that they are interested in determining where else this guy may have been on the night in question and whether he was seen at other locations with Michelle. In addition to the stills shown below, the Burlington Police Department has made available a segment of the surveillance video on their website. That page also contains links to press releases, photos of Michelle Gardner-Quinn, and press conference videos.





Earlier this week, police executed a search warrant at a home in Richmond, subsequently declaring that the residents thereof are not considered suspects in Ms. Gardner-Quinn's disappearance. Neighbors described the couple in glowing terms, adding that they have "grandchildren of their own all over the place." However, the search is indeed related to the investigation of the, as yet, unnamed man captured on camera accompanying her.

Thursday's search spanned areas east of the city in Jericho and Richmond. Police had searched a house in Richmond earlier in the week and Tremblay said of the man seen in the video with Gardner-Quinn: "There is a connection to the Richmond home." He did not elaborate. [Source: Rutland Herald]

Obviously, police have reason to suspect that he is involved in her disappearance and have evidence that he traveled to Richmond shortly after Michelle's disappearance. In all likelihood, the man was identified by tracing back his number to the cell phone Michelle used to call her friend Tommy that night. The next logical step would have been to track any other calls and pings from that phone in the following days to ascertain the travels of the person of interest. The search for Michelle and any of her belongings was expanded to include Jericho, which lies along the Route 15 corridor between Burlington and Richmond. Reportedly, forensic evidence has been recovered, although police are not specifying the location of that recovery, and is currently being analyzed in a crime lab. In addition, some tip(s) or evidence has led investigators to two parks on Lake Champlain -- North Beach and Oakledge -- in their search for Ms. Gardner-Quinn.

Interactive Map

I have plotted the areas of interest on MSN's Live Local maps. Click the Interactive Map link above and wait for the markers to load. Each marker has additional information that you can view by hovering your mouse cursor over the placemark. Some markers overlap and can be seen better by zooming in to street level. Please provide links to any additional articles of interest, as well as your own thoughts and theories, in the comment section.