Found Deceased IL - Brissa Romero, 17, from Carpentersville, gray 2008 Nissan Rogue, didn't return from a work party at Bowlero, Vernon Hills, 4 Dec 2023

[Chimera]

Oh, no ....
So sorry for her family !
Hope she's located soon.
Awful news.

 

[vls12345]

Search for missing teen suspended for the evening, vehicle pulled from pond: Vernon Hills police

Police investigating the mysterious disappearance of a 17-year-old Carpentersville girl who went missing on her way to a work holiday party one week ago discovered the teen’s vehicle in a pond Monday afternoon near where she was last spotted on camera.

www.nbcchicago.com

According to authorities, new cell phone data analysis led officers investigating the disappearance of Romero to the pond located at Lakeview Parkway and Executive Way in Vernon Hills on Monday.

Once there, an officer was approached by a resident who had discovered a backpack floating in the water. Authorities said the backpack belonged to Romero and an intense search then began.

[snip]

Police said they believe Romero was driving the vehicle at the time it went into the pond, citing newly discovered surveillance footage from a fast food restaurant just over a mile from the scene. The footage showed Romero parking her vehicle at the restaurant, entering the building and exiting alone before she got back into car and continued driving.

 

[ifindedout]

2008 Nissan Rogue owner's manual
PDF (4.4 MB), on Pages 136-137 of 309
https://nissanrogue.org/download/2008-Rogue-owner-manual.pdf
SlideShare PPT, on Pages 137-138 of 310
2008 ROGUE OWNER'S MANUAL

Pages 3-20 and 3-21: Lift Gate and Lift Gate Release

ETA: Updated 2nd image with crossouts

 

[asmi106082]

Whenever I read about cases where there is the *possibility* that someone was abducted from a parking lot, I think of the case of Kelsey Smith: Murder of Kelsey Smith - Wikipedia

She was abducted from a busy Target parking lot just after 7 in the evening in the summertime when it was still bright daylight outside. There was an episode about her on the ID show See No Evil that showed the camera footage and the ambush and shoving her into her car happened so fast that it took investigators awhile to even notice this quick blur on the CCTV footage of the parking lot. No one reported seeing this happen in the Target parking lot, and that parking lot would likely be busier and overall brighter than the Bowlero parking lot on Monday night. So I do think an abduction/car jacking *could* have happened and no one saw it.

An article posted upthread mentioned that she told friends she was two minutes out. I wonder how she communicated this to them. By phone call? Was she at a stop light and sent a text? If it was her communicating that message, that makes it even more likely to me that something happened when she arrived at Bowlero.

One other thought I had was, it is possible a coworker intercepted her in the parking lot. I'm curious if anyone else didn't show up for the work party or showed up late and people thought it odd or had expected them and then they no-showed. Could be someone even got in her car under friendly pretenses and then it turned nefarious. MOO

Yes! That episode of See No Evil was absolutely terrifying!! They had to replay the tape in slow motion and that’s when the true, horrific truth was revealed. I almost cried at the end of that show.

MOO

 

[Skylark6]

This image was posted on the local scanner page showing what appear to be tire tracks and a possible entry point. I have not confirmed that this was not from an emergency vehicle, tow truck, etc. I was watching footage and it looked like the tow truck and other vehicles remained on the road way, but again, not confirmed. However, this is very interesting, because IF these are her tire tracks, she didn't just continue straight but made the turn and then went off the road shortly thereafter. Just missing much of the trees/plantings/power boxes that could provide a bit of a barrier.

 

[threesevenninefour]

I can’t stress enough how often single-car accidents are caused by people trying to overcorrect too quickly when they begin to slide or feel like they’re losing control of a vehicle going around a bend. Panicking and over-correcting during a fast turn can often be more dangerous than the turn would have been on its own, regardless of how scary it feels in the moment. Not saying that’s what happened here but just putting it out there— a very scary lesson that I learned the hard way as a novice driver myself.

 

[DeDee]

If you look at Google maps street view, you can see that when you are on the little entrance street (Executive Way) to get onto Lakeview Parkway, the curb directly across is a ramp. She had a small car so I wonder if she somehow drove onto the walking path and ended up in the pond/lake that way?

View attachment 467508

Isn't it the curb above the yellow circle and over to the rt a bit that her vehicle jumped? That's a short distance to travel to make it 60' across the pond.

2008 Nissan Rogue owner's manual
PDF (4.4 MB), on Pages 136-137 of 309
https://nissanrogue.org/download/2008-Rogue-owner-manual.pdf
SlideShare PPT, on Pages 137-138 of 310
2008 ROGUE OWNER'S MANUAL

Pages 3-20 and 3-21: Lift Gate and Lift Gate Release
View attachment 467509View attachment 467511
ETA: Updated 2nd image with crossouts

Unlatching the hatchback reads like an insurmountable task to perform when disoriented, at night, in the dark, underwater, when it's freezing cold. Driving with the liftgate open doesn't sound good.

This image was posted on the local scanner page showing what appear to be tire tracks and a possible entry point. I have not confirmed that this was not from an emergency vehicle, tow truck, etc. I was watching footage and it looked like the tow truck and other vehicles remained on the road way, but again, not confirmed. However, this is very interesting, because IF these are her tire tracks, she didn't just continue straight but made the turn and then went off the road shortly thereafter. Just missing much of the trees/plantings/power boxes that could provide a bit of a barrier.

Was her vehicle forced off the road? I'm puzzled over the vehicle's ability to careen 60' across the water.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1734340789189444088

 

[katydid23]

Car belonging to missing Carpentersville teen Brissa Romero found in Vernon Hills retention pond​

Investigators say it appears Romero missed a turn and drove into a retention pond; recovery efforts are ongoing


Vernon Hills police said cell phone data analysis led investigators to the retention pond at that intersection Monday morning. When they arrived, a resident who had been walking around the pond and pointed out a backpack that had floated to the edge of the water. Police said the backpack appears to belong to Romero.

Vernon Hills police then reached out to the Countryside Fire Protection District who brought in special teams to search the pond. In the water, they found Romero's Nissan Rogue.

Car belonging to missing Carpentersville teen Brissa Romero found in Vernon Hills retention pond

The car belonging to missing teen Brissa Romero was pulled from a retention pond in Vernon Hills Monday afternoon.

abc7chicago.com

I remember in the early posts in this thread there were a couple of members here who quickly keyed in on the water and strongly felt that is where she'd be found.

 

[katydid23]

 

[NoSpoonFeeding]

Was her vehicle forced off the road? I'm puzzled over the vehicle's ability to careen 60' across the water.

Cars float out and then sink in bodies of water all the time, with no careening across water possible. She drove down an embankment and had no idea the darkness in front of her was water. I would think there would be evidence of another vehicle forcing her off the road if you mean the public street, especially if two cars were then maybe careening around the park. MOO

"Police said the car traveled as far as 60 feet into the pond".

Car belonging to missing Carpentersville teen Brissa Romero found in Vernon Hills retention pond

The car belonging to missing teen Brissa Romero was pulled from a retention pond in Vernon Hills Monday afternoon.

abc7chicago.com

 

[masquerading]

I can’t stress enough how often single-car accidents are caused by people trying to overcorrect too quickly when they begin to slide or feel like they’re losing control of a vehicle going around a bend. Panicking and over-correcting during a fast turn can often be more dangerous than the turn would have been on its own, regardless of how scary it feels in the moment. Not saying that’s what happened here but just putting it out there— a very scary lesson that I learned the hard way as a novice driver myself.

I learned this the hard way after I had been driving for 5 years!! Of course I knew that overcorrecting is dangerous, but when you feel like your car is out of your control it’s second nature (to me at least and probably to many) to panic a little and try to quickly fix the issue. Luckily I escaped my overcorrection with only some minor whiplash. Combining this with it being dark, I can see how this tragedy occurred. Driving can be truly scary, cases like this one and the one of the 4 teens in the UK who recently passed in a car accident really remind you of how careful and alert you need to be at every moment.

I can’t imagine how Brissa’s family and friends are feeling. 17 is so young! And Brissa seems like a really warm, bright girl. I hope solid answers are found for her loved ones soon.

 

[vls12345]

Isn't it the curb above the yellow circle and over to the rt a bit that her vehicle jumped? That's a short distance to travel to make it 60' across the pond.

Yes, if the scanner photo a few posts ago shows her tracks, that would be right after she turned. If you zoom in on that photo, you can see the stop sign at the bottom right corner. Across from that, where there is a red vehicle parked, you can see a person standing on the pedestrian walk area that I had circled in yellow.

Of course we are also assuming she entered that area by coming in on Executive Way. Brissa could have turned earlier to get on Lakeview Pkwy., such as CDW Way.

She had to have swerved over. Was she avoiding an animal? A pedestrian? A cyclist? Debris in the road? A pothole? Could there have been an ice patch (say a broken sprinkler cased water to run out in the road there and freeze if cold enough)? Was she forced off the road? Was she distracted? Did she have a medical event of some kind?

It's heartbreaking.

 

[DeDee]

How to survive if you drive into a body of water

"Act quickly but don't panic. You may only have a minute to get out, but you must stay focused," CBigney, < >, said.

the first minute is absolutely crucial when a vehicle enters a body of water.

[Gordon] Giesbrecht explained there is a simple way to remember what you should do if you drive into water —

SWOC: Seat belts off. Windows open. Out immediately. Children first.

You can't break the windows. Don't count on opening the car door.

That's a steep slope into the water. Did the vehicle flip upside down due to typical vertical inversion?

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

You are not wrong! Just looking away from the road for a second (not even at a phone) can have dire consequences.

I don't know, there are a lot of stories just like this one and even attentive drivers are involved. IMO, this isn't an irresponsible driver problem, but an infrastructure problem. I ask this on every one of these threads that I'm reading: why oh why oh why oh why do we have roads that lead to water???? Boat ramps should always have gates and other than boat ramps, there should always be grass or at least lights, something to alert drivers they're heading toward water at night.

I just don't get how many people we need to lose to this type of thing before any changes are made to how we access bodies of water.

MOO.

 

[Inthedetails]

I don't know, there are a lot of stories just like this one and even attentive drivers are involved. IMO, this isn't an irresponsible driver problem, but an infrastructure problem. I ask this on every one of these threads that I'm reading: why oh why oh why oh why do we have roads that lead to water???? Boat ramps should always have gates and other than boat ramps, there should always be grass or at least lights, something to alert drivers they're heading toward water at night.

I just don't get how many people we need to lose to this type of thing before any changes are made to how we access bodies of water.

MOO.

I agree. Some white posts placed along the roadway or at least on each side of that path leading to the water would make a big difference. Doesn't take a million-dollar infrastructure project to make that section safer, imo.

jmo

 

[MommaV]

Body located in pond in Vernon Hills amid search for missing teenager Brissa Romero

Divers recovered a body Tuesday afternoon matching the description of Brissa Romero after the 17-year-old girl went missing over a week ago in Vernon Hills.

www.lakemchenryscanner.com

 

[MollyHarps]

Body located in pond in Vernon Hills amid search for missing teenager Brissa Romero

Divers recovered a body Tuesday afternoon matching the description of Brissa Romero after the 17-year-old girl went missing over a week ago in Vernon Hills.

www.lakemchenryscanner.com

Sad outcome - however, after yesterdays news about her car it was never going to be a positive outcome so I am glad the body has been recovered quickly so the family can begin to grieve.

Massive thanks to the divers - they really are heroes.

RIP Brissa and my thoughts go to all her family & friends

X

 

[bestill]

I don't know, there are a lot of stories just like this one and even attentive drivers are involved. IMO, this isn't an irresponsible driver problem, but an infrastructure problem. I ask this on every one of these threads that I'm reading: why oh why oh why oh why do we have roads that lead to water???? Boat ramps should always have gates and other than boat ramps, there should always be grass or at least lights, something to alert drivers they're heading toward water at night.

I just don't get how many people we need to lose to this type of thing before any changes are made to how we access bodies of water.

MOO.

Home owners insurance require fencing around personal swimming pools but counties, cities, communities don't seem to have stringent guidelines other than occasionally signage and some guard rails. I agree that this could be an easy fix. I also wonder about some type of alert system on cars that goes off when they are submerged in water like a flashing light, alarm and notification to the auto maker.

I am so sorry that Brissa's life was cut short, I'm relieved that her family will know what happened to her and I hope that something good can come out of this.

 

[Inthedetails]

Rest in peace, Brissa. Condolences to all who knew and loved you.

 

[ifindedout]

Home owners insurance require fencing around personal swimming pools but counties, cities, communities don't seem to have stringent guidelines other than occasionally signage and some guard rails. I agree that this could be an easy fix. I also wonder about some type of alert system on cars that goes off when they are submerged in water like a flashing light, alarm and notification to the auto maker.

BBM
What you're suggesting is the function of an automatic emergency position-indicating radiobeacon (EPIRB), whose signal is meant to be amplified by immersion in water. From a recent post of mine on a recent missing-at-sea case:

SC - SC - US Coast Guard searching for 31-foot vessel – Carol Anne that went missing off of Brunswick Georgia, 3 boaters on board, Charleston, 18 Oct ‘23

Tania Flowers, family to one of the boaters, says the boat could have drifted up to the Charleston coast. The vessel was supposed to port Tuesday or Wednesday to meet their shipment but never showed up...

www.websleuths.com

ETA: such a beacon would have to be mounted inside the car, to avoid activation by driving in wet weather or car washes.

I am so sorry that Brissa's life was cut short, I'm relieved that her family will know what happened to her and I hope that something good can come out of this.

Same here. RIP Brissa.