A missing Texas mom who was last seen rushing to work nearly three weeks ago has been found dead inside her vehicle in a shopping mall parking lot, police announced on Monday, July 25.
Christina Lee Powell's body was discovered on Saturday night after a security guard noticed a foul odor coming from the car parked outside the Huebner Oaks Center in San Antonio, according to the New York Post.
The security guard approached the black 2020 Nissan Rogue after realizing the 39-year-old's vehicle had been parked in the same spot outside the mall for about a week, cops said. When the guard looked inside the car, he observed a body in the front passenger side seat and decided to call 911 immediately.
Cops said Powell had suffered no apparent injuries
Police said there was no apparent trauma to her body, but a medical examiner conducted an autopsy to determine Powell's official cause of death. It also was not immediately clear when she died.
Cops said Powell's purse and ID were found inside her car and used to identify her positively. Powell's mom, Claudia Mobley, broke the sad news of her daughter's tragic death on the social media platform Facebook on Monday, writing that her beautiful daughter, Christina Powell, had been found deceased. The heartbroken mom then said thank you to all for the prayers.
Powell had been missing since July 5 after she set off from her home in San Antonio to head to her paralegal job, according to her family at the time. Powell was captured on her doorbell security footage rushing to leave the house at about 10:30 a.m., leaving behind both her Apple Watch and phone, according to People magazine.
Mobley, who also lives at the San Antonio home, said Powell had called her office to let them know she would be late. Mobley said her daughter's colleague came to their home hours later when Powell failed to show up at the office.
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Is Powell's death heat-related?
Mobley told Fox News soon after she reported her daughter missing that she felt like Powell was going to work. She added that nothing seemed out of the ordinary on the day of her disappearance and that Powell had not said anything remarkable to her before she left.
She said they did not really have any kind of in-depth conversation that particular morning. She just said "Good morning" and that she was late. Mobley then told her daughter to be careful as she was leaving for work and "I love you."
The mall complex where Powell's body was found is located approximately four miles from her Red Hill Place home, which is a 10-minute drive. Temperatures in the San Antonio area averaged at least in the high 80s and low 90s during the approximate time Powell's car was believed to have been parked in the lot.
