Friday autopsy results were not available at press time. See bastropadvertiser.com for updates.
The Bastrop County Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace said Friday that evidence found by a search party leads her to believe a body discovered Wednesday in a wooded area near Bastrop belonged to a 25-year-old Smithville woman who was listed as missing on Aug. 7.
Earlier on Thursday, the sheriff’s office issued a statement saying it could not confirm the deceased was Christine Mohler, who was listed as missing after she did not show up to work at a Bastrop fast food restaurant.
“With the evidence that was found today by searchers that scoured the property, I am led to believe it was (Mohler),” said Donna Van Gilder, Bastrop County Pct. JP 1. “I cannot say with 100 percent certainty that it was her.”
Van Gilder said Thursday that the body was that of woman in her mid-twenties, but clarified early Friday afternoon that the Travis County medical examiner’s office, which autopsied the badly decomposed body on Friday, had not yet determined whether the body belonged to a man or woman.
Autopsy results were not available Friday at press time, but readers can check bastropadvertiser.com for updates.
“They’re bringing in an anthropologist who will determine if its male or female,” Van Gilder said. “That’s about all they’ll be able to do.”
Van Gilder said on Thursday it would be optimistic to believe the examiner’s team would be able to provide an identity immediately following the autopsy.
“The ID could take up to five to six weeks,” Van Gilder said. “The body was badly decomposed. Identification could come down to dental and DNA records.”
On Friday, she said the body was being compared with medical records.
According to a Bastrop County sheriff’s office spokeswoman, the body was found north of Bastrop in the 300 block of BJ Mayes Road near Texas 95 around 6:15 p.m. Wednesday.
Doyle Sullivent, Mohler’s cousin who has been leading an unofficial search effort through social media and word of mouth, said the family had been in contact with authorities following the body’s recovery.
Like everyone else, he’s waiting to learn the woman’s identity.
“It’s hard, and I’m not long for patience,” Sullivent said. “It’s hard not being able to tell anyone anything.”
The body was delivered to the examiner’s office at 11 a.m. Thursday, said Sarah Scott, the chief administrative officer who added that a high number of autopsies already had been scheduled for that day.
On Friday, Scott said that the case file showed that the autopsy had been performed, and that the status showed a “tentative identity,” but said that information could not be disclosed by anyone other than Van Gilder, who ordered the autopsy.
Scott said the office usually goes by a “scientific standard,” meaning that an identification can be made at any point after a body is delivered. In cases such as this, she said, law enforcement is usually present for the autopsy.
“The ID process can start anytime,” Scott said. “DNA is the gold standard, but the scientific standard can sometimes allow us to make an identification sooner.”
Until the body’s identity is confirmed, Sullivent had a message for the Smithville community, who he said has been helping him with his search.
“Until we know who it is (officials found), don’t stop searching,” Sullivent said.
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