17-Year-Old Brissa Romero's Body Officially Identified in Illinois Pond, Coroner Says

Mar. 15, 2025

Brissa Romero.Photo:Village of Carpentersville Public Safety

Village of Carpentersville Public Safety

The Carpentersville teenager vanished while on her way to a holiday work party on Dec. 4 and had been the subject of a weeklong search.

Divers involved in the search for the missing girl located and recovered a body matching her description from a retention pond near Executive Way and Lakeview Parkway in Vernon Hills, about 40 miles north of Chicago, just before 12:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday..

Her vehicle, a 2008 Nissan Rogue, had been discovered the day before in the same pond, according to the coroner’s office.

Romero was on her way to a bowling alley in Vernon Hills when she disappeared, PEOPLE previously reported. She was last spotted on surveillance video while visiting a family member in Des Plaines.

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Several items belonging to Romero, including a backpack containing what police say was identifying information, were found along the pond’s shore prior to authorities finding Romero’s body.

“My daughter, she was a hard worker," Romero’s mother, Blanca Aguilera, told the news station, fighting back tears. “She was talking [to] me about what she wants to do in college."

source: people.com