HAGER CITY, WI - Pierce County Sheriff Nancy Hove said Thursday that a missing 23-year-old woman ran off the road and drove straight into the backwaters of the Mississippi River, where she was found dead Wednesday in her submerged minivan.
Authorities believe that early Saturday morning, Marya Christiansen, 23, was driving north on U.S. 63 from Red Wing, Minn., to her home in Hager City.
“As the (curve) came, she just kind of went straight,” Hove said of the investigation’s initial conclusions. “Through the grass, over the riprock (and) into the water.”
On Wednesday afternoon, authorities using sonar discovered evidence of a possibly submerged vehicle in the Mississippi backwaters on the Wisconsin side of the river.
Divers went into the water near the bridge at the Trenton Island boat launch and found Christiansen’s body in her white Dodge Caravan.
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Earlier in the week, Hove said that Christiansen was with friends on Friday night at a Red Wing bar. The group got a ride back to a friend’s house in Red Wing, which Christiansen later decided to leave. Hove said Christiansen’s friends tried talking her into staying, but she drove off by herself at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday.
Her boyfriend reported her missing Saturday afternoon. A search for the mother of two young boys ensued.
Authorities said an autopsy was being conducted. Funeral arrangements were pending Thursday.
