Pregnant mum, 21, found dead nearly a week after vanishing

The body of a pregnant woman who disappeared after she was last seen at a laundromat has been found.

Dianna Brice, 21, went missing on March 30 after she was seen leaving the K Laundry in Landsdowne, in the US state of Pennsylvania, with her boyfriend, Justin Smith.

Upper Darby Police said just four-and-a-half hours later the boyfriend's car was found on fire in the city of Philadelphia.

It was the same car Ms Brice, who was about four months pregnant, had been seen in, but the vehicle was unoccupied when it was discovered.

Ms Brice's body was later found on Monday (local time) in woodlands just over a kilometre from where the car was found, NBC News reported.

Upper Darby Police Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt told reporters the discovery of Ms Brice, who was identified by her tattoos, was "terrible".

"Words don't express how sad it is for a young woman who leaves behind a four-year-old child, and was three to four months pregnant with her second," he said.

"Words don't describe how sad it is for her and her family."

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Mum's call with daughter's boyfriend

Ms Brice's boyfriend has not yet been located but her mother, Betty Cellini, told Dateline she had last seen her daughter at the laundromat visibly upset while sitting in her boyfriend's car.

"She was just so upset and she kept crying," Ms Cellini said.

"I asked her what was wrong. She said: 'Nothing, Mum.'"

The mother added she later spoke to her daughter on the phone who asked her to pick up medication she needed to take daily for a medical condition.

She told her mother she would see her later that day, but when Ms Cellini tried to phone her daughter again, she could not get onto her.

Ms Cellini told Dateline however she spoke to Mr Smith who told her the pair got in an argument in Philadelphia, and Ms Brice got out of the car and walked off.

A Facebook page was made by worried family and friends in the wake of Ms Brice's disappearance.

A picture of a missing poster uploaded to the page said Mr Smith claimed he drove away when Ms Brice got out of the car.

Philadelphia Police are now investigating Ms Brice's death as a homicide.

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