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Who is Julia Christine Devlin? UVA lecturer missing after car wreck in Shenandoah National Park

Park officials said University of Virginia lecturer Julia Christine Devlin was last seen in Charlottesville on July 14

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA: Authorities have reported on Thursday, July 22, that a University of Virginia professor has gone missing after her damaged automobile was discovered in a park on July 17. Julia Christine Devlin was last seen in her white Lexus vehicle entering Shenandoah National Park in Charlottesville on July 14, according to park officials.

Missing persons cases have been on a steady rise in recent times with an LA woman missing for a month after attending a spiritual conference in Ohio. Early this month, a 28-year-old woman from Cincinnati was missing after she left a recovery facility in Kentucky.

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This month we also reported that the missing child Summer Moon-Utah Wells, 5, from Rogersville, Tennessee, for whom an Amber Alert was raised, had an aunt, Rose Bly, who also went missing and was never found. 

Who is Julia Christine Devlin?

Devlin, 55, was a lecturer of economics at the University of Virginia (UVA), where she had been teaching for over nine years. According to police reports, she is 5’7” tall, weighs 150 pounds and has dark blonde hair. Her LinkedIn profile details her academic and professional achievements.

Prior to her time at the UVA, she was a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Washington DC from 2011 to 2015. She was also an economist and a senior private sector development specialist at the World Bank. She worked in that capacity for over 14 years. She was also a visiting lecturer and a visiting assistant professor at Harvard University and Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

Devlin is a well-read woman. She holds a doctorate in Economics from George Mason University, an MA from the University of Virginia. She holds another MA in Arab Studies with a concentration in Economics from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She also holds a Bachelor's in Economics from the University of Virginia. The website shares that she is fluent in four languages, Arabic, English, French, and German.

What happened to Julia Christine Devlin?

Devlin was last seen on July 14 in Charlottesville, Virginia. On Saturday, July 17, her white Lexus car was discovered damaged and abandoned in Shenandoah National Park's southern section. Her vehicle was seen entering the park late on Wednesday, July 14, according to security footage, WINA reports.

The wrecked vehicle was recovered three days later in the park along Skyline Drive, with Devlin nowhere to be seen, the New York Post reported. With the assistance of the state's Department of Emergency Services, the National Park Service has begun a search. Authorities said they're concentrating their efforts in the park's southern section, where her car was discovered.

Clair Comer of Shenandoah National Park would not identify where on the drive the car was discovered, according to WINA. Comer couldn't say if there was any suspicion of wrongdoing, reported Scallywag and Vagabond. Devlin's disappearance has been described as "heartbreaking" by a close friend, according to WVIR. She didn't want to say much since she didn't want the rest of the family to know, but she claims Julia would never just go and would never go this long without contacting her mother or sister.

If you have any information about Julia Devlin or her whereabouts, call the park service at (540)-999-3500, or contact the ISB tip line at 888-653-0009 or online at go.nps.gov/SubmitATip or email nps_isb@nps.gov.