Almost three weeks after she vanished from Texas and was last seen heading to work, a mother’s body was discovered inside her car in a parking lot of a mall, according to authorities on July 25.
Security personnel alerted to a “foul odor” coming from the car parked outside the Huebner Oaks Center in San Antonio on Saturday night, July 23. This led them to believe the body of Christina Lee Powell was inside the car.
The security guard approached the 39-year-old’s black 2020 Nissan Rogue after realizing the car had been parked in the same spot outside the mall for about a week, police said.
“He looked inside the vehicle and observed a body in the front passenger side seat and called 911,” police said.
Police said there was no apparent trauma to Powell’s body, but a medical examiner was carrying out an autopsy to determine her official cause of death.
Powell’s mother, Claudia Moble, broke the news of her daughter’s death on Facebook, writing on Monday: “My beautiful daughter, Christina Powell, has been found, deceased. I am heartbroken. Thank you all for your prayers.”
Powell had been missing since July 5 after she set off from her San Antonio home to head to her paralegal job, her family said at the time.
She was captured on her doorbell security footage rushing to leave the house at about 10:30 a.m., leaving behind her phone and Apple Watch.
Moble, who also lives at the home, said her daughter had called her office to let them know that she would be in late. But she never showed up at work.