A Michigan woman who called a friend from a cabin, saying she was in the midst of a gunfight with two men, before vanishing in October has been found dead, police confirmed Monday.
Over the weekend, the family of Adrienne Quintal, 47, wrote on a Facebook page dedicated to finding her that “the search is over.”
“Today we found her. We are heartbroken as the search did not have a positive ending,” the post said.
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The Benzie County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that they were confident a body found submerged in more than a foot of water is Quintal’s, due to an identifying tattoo and scars. The pond had to be drained before her body could be recovered.
Quintal, who is from the Detroit area, was staying at the cabin when she called a friend at about 2:45 a.m. on Oct. 17 to report that she was “involved in a shootout with two men,” one of whom she had shot in the face, the friend told the Benzie County Sheriff’s Office.
She told the friend during their 4-and-a-half minute phone call that another man was still shooting at her, and she was shooting back.
The friend called police, who responded to the cabin and found Quintal’s purse, cellphone and vehicle, along with a handgun. But Quintal was gone.
Investigators found bullet holes in a window of the cabin, and evidence that shots had been fired from inside, but there was no indication that anyone there had been injured.
Quintal had been staying at the cabin in Honor, Michigan, about 250 miles northwest of Detroit, with her boyfriend, who was interviewed after her disappearance.
The body was located near the cabin. Officials did not identify who first located the body, which was retrieved by a team from the sheriff’s and the medical examiner’s offices.
An autopsy is underway to determine a cause of death for Quintal. Police said there were no immediate signs of foul play.
