A mom missing since leaving a Fourth of July party has been found dead in her hot-pink Chevy in rural Georgia.
Natalie Jones, 27, a mother-of-two from Corinth, Georgia, vanished without a trace after attending the party in Jacksons' Gap, Alabama.
On Tuesday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced that Jones' 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier containing a human body had been located in a wooded area in Heard County. Her family said the body is Jones.
A body believed to be that of Natalie Jones, 27, was found inside her car in the woods in Heard County, Georgia, on Tuesday. The woman went missing after a July 4 party
Jones' hot-pink car was discovered by a landowner clearing brush on his property in Heard County, which is not visible from the road
This map shows the locations of Jones' home in Corinth, the site of the July 4 party she attended before he disappearance, and the clearing where her vehicle was found
Officials reported that the body has not been positively identified pending an autopsy, but Jones' mother said she was told by law enforcement that her daughter had been found dead.
'I lost it, I really did,' Elaine Gordon told WSB-TV, describing the moment she learned the tragic news. 'I started screaming. I started hitting the mattress. I put a hole in the wall.'
Heard County Sheriff Ross Henry told The Newnan Times-Herald physical evidence suggests that Jones' car had been in the woods near Roosterville from the time of the woman's disappearance, contrary to false rumors circulating online, claiming the Chevy was not there on Monday.
The body has not been identified pending an autopsy, but family say it is Natalie Jones, pictured above with her two boys, ages 11 and 8
Henry pointed to vegetation measuring up to 8 feet in height that had grown around the car, as well as through the tires and even the bumper.
'Who is the world would try to move a car that they have hidden for three months?' the sheriff wondered. 'If they had moved it, they would have had to have a helicopter to to set it in there, and to put bushes around it. Clearly, that was just not the case.'
Henry added that while the location is being treated as a crime scene, investigators have found no evidence to suggest foul play.
But Jones' mother believes her daughter had been abducted in the midst of a custody battle. She also cast doubt on Jones' car being in the woods in Heard County since July.
'I know we had 10 cars out and everyone of them passed that spot where her car was found,' Gordon said.
Jones was last seen driving her pink 2002 Chevy Cavalier from a party in Jacksons' Gap, Alabama, in the early hours of July 5
Sheriff Henry explained that most of the search attempts focused on the southern and western parts of the county, not on the northern side where the vehicle was spotted by a landowner cutting brush.
He added that the overgrown field where Jones' Chevy was discovered is not visible from the road.
Officials do not suspect foul play, but Jones' mother has doubts
Jones, a mother of two boys, ages 11 and 8, was last seen at around 1am on July 5, after attending a Fourth of July party in Jacksons' Gap, about an hour away from her home in Corinth, Georgia.
Jones texted a friend that she got home safely, writing, 'I made it, thanks,' according to People magazine. Officials said she had been communicating with someone on social media that night.
Jones' cell phone last pinged in Franklin, Heard County, 'in the opposite end of the county from her home,' Heard County Sheriff's Office Lt. Danny Boswell said.
Investigators searched for Jones by land and from the air but found no trace of her. Volunteers and family members also conducted additional searches.
Following her disappearance, Jones' bank accounts and social media accounts have gone dormant, reported 11Alive.
Jones' car with the body inside was found 20 miles northwest of her home in Corinth, and 60 miles northeast of Jacksons' Gap, Alabama.
A family member has launched a fundraiser to help Jones' family with her funeral expenses.
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