A 24-year-old Kansas City, Kansas woman who vanished after being seen walking along a busy trafficway was found dead beneath a bridge in an industrial stretch of the city, police say. Officers have identified her as Monica Rivera, and investigators believe her death was accidental.
Kansas City, Kansas Police Department officers responded around 9:45 a.m. last Friday to an area north of Southwest Boulevard, under the Seventh Street Trafficway Bridge, according to fox4kc.com. There, officers found a woman's body, which police later confirmed was Rivera, of Kansas City, Kansas. A missing person report for Rivera had been filed that same Friday afternoon in Johnson County, Kansas, the outlet reported.
Rivera was last seen early that Friday morning walking northbound along Seventh Street Trafficway near Southwest Boulevard, according to investigators cited by fox4kc.com. It's unclear how much time passed between that sighting and when officers discovered her body in the industrial area beneath the bridge, as described by kmbc.com.
Police Describe the Death as a Tragic Accident
Preliminary autopsy findings indicated no evidence of foul play, per the same fox4kc.com report. A police spokesperson told kansascity.com that preliminary investigations suggested Rivera's death was “a tragic accident.”
Investigators said Rivera might have fallen through a narrow gap between the north and south lanes of the Seventh Street Bridge. As the spokesperson explained to kansascity.com, “there's actually a gap. If you were trying to go from one side to the other, you could possibly fall.”
As KCTV5 reported, police continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding Rivera's death even as the preliminary findings point toward an accidental fall. The investigation remains ongoing, according to fox4kc.com, and no further details about how Rivera came to be in the area beneath the bridge have been released.
Police Ask Public for Tips
Kansas City, Kansas police have asked anyone with information about Rivera's death to come forward. Tips can be submitted to the Crime Stoppers TIPS hotline at 816-474-8477, and all tips remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash reward, per fox4kc.com.
