Gruesome discovery in truck after woman vanishes from flight
A woman’s body found wrapped in plastic, cardboard and duct tape inside the back of an abandoned rental truck has been identified as a 29-year-old who was reported missing by her family two months ago after a cross-country flight.
Investigators are still trying to find out if Ashley Manning’s death was a homicide after her body was found in the vehicle at a U-Haul storage facility in Fullerton, 40km southwest of Los Angeles, local publication Orange County Register reported.
Manning, of Anaheim, the city directly south of Fullerton, was identified during an autopsy, Anaheim police Sgt Shane Carringer said.
“Her cause of death is still pending … toxicology could take weeks,” he told the publication.
Staff at the facility found the body last Wednesday while conducting inventory on the truck.
Manning’s family reported her missing in November.
According to a Facebook post by her sister seeking help finding her, Manning flew from Dallas to Los Angeles International Airport on November 13, but was never seen again.
“We have confirmation that she made it to LAX and are working with police to pull video footage to see what car she got into (and) run licence plates,” Taylor Manning wrote in the post.
Manning had most recently been staying in the Anaheim area with friends, Carringer said.
The truck had been rented in nearby Anaheim and was found abandoned in that city after the rental agreement expired.
It was towed by a third-party company to the Fullerton facility, according to the Register.
Following confirmation the body found was her sister’s, Taylor Manning took to Facebook to share several photos of Ashley.
“It is with a very heavy heart that I share with everyone here that my sister’s body was found,” she wrote.
With AP
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