Who is Kori Gauthier? LSU student, 19, goes missing after crashed car located at Mississippi River bridge
Lousiana authorities are searching for a missing Louisiana State University teenager student after police found her wrecked car on a bridge. The 19-year-old Kori Gauthier is reportedly missing after her car was located near an exit off Interstate 10 near the Mississippi River bridge in Baton Rouge at about 1 am on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. Her family says she's an LSU student who lives on campus.
Kori's uncle, Spencer Gauthier, pleaded for the public's help in locating his niece in a Thursday morning Facebook post: "Everyone I need your help! Please share this picture of my niece Kori Gauthier. She has not been seen since April 6th. She is a Freshman at LSU. Her vehicle was involved in an accident (currently in a junkyard) on the Mississippi River bridge at or around 1 am on April 7th. I’ve checked every hospital, jail, coroner's office you name it. No sign of her. I’ll personally pay $10K to anyone that leads her home. I need my niece!" Students at LSU are helping the search for Gauthier by putting up flyers around campus in hopes of her return."
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Spencer also said that he pinged Kori, and the cell phone location led them to a Baton Rouge salvage yard where her phone was found inside her car. The license plate was still on the vehicle, according to her uncle, and her wallet was removed by police who responded to the wreck. "Nobody reached out from the wreck," Spencer said. "No police, no ambulance, nothing. I don't know where the ball was dropped." He also said that the family is fearful she may have fallen into the Mississippi River while trying to exit her vehicle after the crash or that someone may have taken her away from the scene.
KATC spoke to a driver, who said he was driving in the outside lane on the bridge when he came upon her car, which was parked there. He tried to avoid hitting it but couldn't move over because of traffic he struck her car."The car in front of me swerved over and cut lanes, all I saw was a parked car," Devin Jones said. "I locked up my brakes. Hit the white car. It was either the car or an 18-wheeler." "My brother, her father or her mother were not notified that car was in an accident or anything," said Spencer. "Went to her dorm room, wasn't there. Looked for her car, couldn't find her car. We started trying to turn over every stone we could."
According to Kori's family, her boyfriend is the last person to see her. Gauthier said they got into an argument. "The time-frame between the argument and the wreck, I don't know," her uncle added.
LSU also released this statement saying: "LSU Police has been investigating the disappearance of one of our students, freshman Kori Gauthier, for almost 24 hours, and has been in close contact with her family throughout the day. Kori’s vehicle was found unoccupied at the scene of an accident early this morning on the I-10 eastbound side of the Mississippi River Bridge in Baton Rouge. Kori, pictured above (or view her image here), is 18 years old and is 5’5” and weighs between 115 to 120 pounds with dark brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information on Kori Gauthier is asked to contact LSU Police at (225) 578-3231."