Gail Schoening Found in Lake 12 Years After Disappearing
The body of Gail Schoening, who vanished 12 years ago on her way to the airport has been found at the bottom of a lake about 100 yards from her front door.
Schoening, from Broward County, Florida, was a month shy of her 36th birthday when she disappeared in April 1997. She was on her way to the airport to fly to North Carolina for an interview for a computer database analyst job.
When Schoening did not arrive for the interview her family and police launched a massive search; Schoening’s family has spent the last 12 years following leads in her disappearance.
Schoening’s body was discovered inside her car at the bottom of a lake near her home.
Investigators 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 counteract poor visibility.
“It’s hard to deal with a lake that’s got a lot of silt 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.”
Authorities reopened the case in July and found her body on August 18 in a lake that divers had searched previously.
“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.”
