A 71-year-old La Mesa woman who went missing five weeks ago was found dead on a freeway off-ramp, officials said Tuesday.
“It is with profound sadness that the La Mesa Police Department is updating the status of our missing person case,” a La Mesa police statement said.
The body of Vivian Crowder was found Monday morning by California Highway Patrol and Caltrans workers along the onramp from La Mesa Boulevard to eastbound Interstate 8, police said.
Crowder had last been seen Oct. 29 as she walked along the shoulder of northbound state Route 125 near the Interstate 8 overpass. Someone had called the CHP at the time to report a pedestrian on the freeway, but when CHP units checked out the area they could not locate her.
La Mesa police had hoped that a good Samaritan had picked her up and drove her someplace. Family members said Crowder did not have a car, her wallet or her medications with her.
Police said she suffered from dementia and had appeared very confused on the day she went missing.
The cause and manner of death are pending, and La Mesa police and the county Medical Examiner’s Office is investigating the “full circumstances surrounding her death.”
La Mesa police thanked “the many citizens, volunteer organizations, and Sheriff’s Search and Rescue, for their support and contributions to the search for Ms. Crowder since she was reported missing” and said the family had asked for privacy.
