- Gretchen Roberdes, 44, was found dead near a Missouri highway last Friday
- Police eventually realized she had been involved in a car crash they investigated two days earlier
- Investigators responded but claimed they didn't find anyone when they looked
- Her devastated husband and five children were unaware she had been killed
- Police said the officer investigating the incident failed to try and make contact with the owner of the car following the crash
Gretchen Roberdes, 44, was found dead near an exit ramp highway in St Peters, Missouri by a utility worker last Friday, despite dying in a car crash two days earlier
The body of a woman who was killed in a car crash shockingly went unnoticed for two days even though authorities immediately went to investigate the wreckage.
Gretchen Roberdes, 44, was found dead near an exit ramp highway in St Peters, Missouri by a utility worker last Friday.
Police said they eventually realized she had been involved in a car crash that they had investigated two days earlier.
Investigators believe her car struck a guard rail on the exit ramp causing Roberdes to be thrown from her Hyundai and land on the opposite side of the ramp, Fox2 [4]reports.
Rescuers responded to the incident but claimed they didn't find anyone when they looked around.
Authorities say police protocol was not followed correctly, which would have led to Roberdes being identified and ultimately found earlier.
Police said the officer investigating the incident failed to make contact with the owner of the vehicle following the crash. If this had happened, it is likely officers would have realized Roberdes was missing and searched more thoroughly.
Roberdes' husband Ronnie Stubbs and her five children were left in limbo for two days when officers failed to find her body when they investigated the crash site
The mother-of-five's body was located two days after she died when a utility worker found her close to the crash site. Investigators were seen at the site (above) when her body was found
'The officer that did the investigation on the highway assumed that another party was going to make the notification,' Jerry Leyshock of St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said.
'That party thought he was going to make the notification and so then that causes the problem.'
He said the most regrettable part was Roberdes' husband Ronnie Stubbs and her five children did not know where she was for two days.
'I would have liked them to look longer and take the time that's required, especially if something like that happened,' Stubbs said.
The family have set up a GoFundMe[5] page to help pay for funeral expenses.
References
- ^ Emily Crane For Dailymail.com (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ e-mail (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ 39 View comments (www.dailymail .co.uk)
- ^ Fox2 (fox2now.com)
- ^ GoFundMe (www.gofundme.com)
